Kaid Benfield

Many thanks to my colleagues at @placemakersllc.bsky.social for publishing my new article on some things we should be doing (but aren't, necessarily) on behalf of greener, healthier places: placemakers.com/2026/10/23/l...

We smart growth advocates must recognize the real world, not just the one we want. In cities, we must earn residents’ respect in order to move forward. Meanwhile, the real action in the 21st C. is in the exurbs, where we must pay better attention or become irrelevant. My latest: bit.ly/4ifk8vd

Places for people are like ecosystems, working best for both humans & the environment when each of their component parts is healthy & all the parts are working together in a healthy & harmonious way. My latest, published in A Placemaking Journal. placemakers.com/2026/06/22/t...

Essentials for greener, healthier communities, why we need a sense of place, why more ‘urbanism’ isn’t always good, how to popularize ‘smart growth,’ & more, w/ 70+ photos of places to emulate. My completely reconceived, redesigned People Habitat website, now live. Peoplehabitat.com

This surprises me, but I'm glad it appears to be true:

Damn. I keep reading examples of these tragedies over and over. Surely we can do better at prosecuting chronic offenders:

Yikes. I knew they moving in this direction, but man that's a scary number:

This is unacceptable

Wow! Now this is cool. More city nature everywhere, please:

My train from Providence to New York took 6.5 hours due to a downed power line. At Chinese HSR speeds, I would've been in Miami in the same amount of time. This country desperately needs to invest in its infrastructure.

Strike the word "British" and this will be more accurate:

BEFORE AND AFTER. If you venture way outside the parts of Barcelona where tourists tend to gather, you will find street transformations as impressive as any superblock.

Great news to be sure, but I worry about the feasibility of ground-floor commercial in this age of diminishing retail:

Lifting zoning restrictions may not help housing affordability as much as some hope. But if we must bring some change to established neighborhoods, let’s at least do it with human scale and respect for the things people love about their communities. My latest: bit.ly/4tr2eKE

In our enthusiasm for housing and increased density, advocates can overlook the opportunities and benefits of human-scale development. Our images often suggest that this scale represents what we do; my new essay argues that we should more often practice what we preach. bit.ly/4tr2eKE

Wow! Congratulations to @smartgrowthusa.bsky.social for hiring @bethosborne.bsky.social as its new president and CEO. What a wonderful choice! Godspeed, Beth! www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hu...

Apparently, no one seems particularly bothered, but for the past few days, Trump has been talking repeatedly about being a dictator. If Americans don’t want that, the window to stop him is closing quickly.

This is just so self-defeating for our country. Creating complete unpredictability for an infant industry Killing an infant in its cradle…really people?? www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/c...

Looking at some of the replies to this post, it's notable how different the approach is in cycling+walking-friendly countries like the Netherlands + Sweden to that in most countries that face these weather conditions.

JFC what are we even doing? This neighborhood park is treeless and desolate so it can be a parking lot once a year?

As our kids go #BackToSchool, never forget that we ARE the traffic that we’re afraid of. If more kids walked, biked or rode transit to school, it would erase a massive number of car trips each day, and our kids would be safer, healthier and better at school. HT Ian Lockwood. Spread the word.

Apparently getting disaster aid has become a privilege in the US

This is an important piece of evidence. US drivers need to slow TF down, especially on streets and roads where people live:

It was awesome collaborating with @tomflood.bsky.social on this project. So cool to see this up!

NEW: For years, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pushed discredited theories linking vaccines to autism. Now, scientists studying the condition fear he has preconceived notions that will harm the field and taint new funding for research. propub.li/41JYl7o

The Trump administration is intent on destroying U.S. higher education, which has for more than half a century been a beacon to the world.

New study: 60% of the world’s land area is in a precarious state, putting at risk the ability of the plant world to acquire enough energy through photosynthesis to maintain the material flows of carbon, water and nitrogen that support the ecosystems. www.pik-potsdam.de/en/news/late...

This, too, is America:

Terrible public transit forces people into car ownership whether they can afford it or not. Owning a car costs $16,000 a year of which $3-4,000 is insurance. Now hundreds of Ottawa drivers are citing the high cost of living as reason for not renewing their insurance. www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/artic...

So sad and, frankly, outrageous that someone with these violations on his record is allowed to drive:

23.1% of principle residences in Paris are social housing. Keeping homes affordable for everyone that works here is what makes a city great. Here is a newly renovated project near my apartment. #paris #15minutecity #urbanism #housing #socialhousing www.apur.org/en/housing-d...

“Walkable cities allow you to access more amenities on foot for daily life, like going to school or work, buying ingredients for dinner…But that's not available to everyone, given many cities and suburbs in Canada and the U.S. have been designed to emphasize transport by car, urban planners say.”

So agree with this! The kind on the right -- there are a zillion in Seattle -- look like they were designed by committee, or rather, by a group of subcommittees that only fitfully communicated with one another.

Starter condos are starter homes. Period. Why incentivize starter homes that are single family when they’re much more expensive than condos? Let the market build what people can actually afford. I’m glad this conversation is evolving in Utah.

What's it called when big corporations & an authoritarian government start effectively merging? Someone should come up with a word for it.