Why Suburban Retrofits Matter

Not just because it's a "fashionable/elitist/patchouli-munching lifestyle choice" as some would deride it. Check out this post over at Smart Growth America. Highlights:

In a new study, the American Lung Association in California has thrown its support behind that state’s plans for more smart growth communities because of the striking positive health implications.

The study conservatively estimates that if the state of California realizes Vision California goals to decrease driving and create more walkable, mixed-use communities by 2035, the state will avoid:

• $1.66 billion (yes, with a “b”) in pollution-related heath costs
• 140 premature deaths
• 260 heart attacks
• 215 acute bronchitis incidents
• 95 cases of chronic bronchitis
• 2,370 asthma attacks
• 101,960 other respiratory symptoms
• 205 respiratory ER trips and hospitalizations
• 16,550 lost work days
• 132,190 tons of criteria pollutants

And those are just the physical health benefits. Streetsblog leads with an article about driving related stressors, and the mental leaps and assumptions through which we turn cars and their automated mobility into expectations. And get all bent out of shape when reality gets in the way of our self-involved worldview. I wrote here about how cars facilitate me-first kind of thinking.