New urban future focus of conference

Strategies for reviving cities are hot topic at architect’s conference

…Terrence O’Neal, the president of the architecture group’s New York chapter, said stopping sprawl was especially timely now. “You know the energy crisis?” he asked. “It has a lot to do with the energy crisis.”

Designing communities where people can go about their daily lives on foot, or without driving far, will help reduce the nation’s oil needs. (If more people walk to work, or to shop, obesity rates are likely to drop, too, O’Neal added.)

Despite the rosy descriptions of the urban revitalization efforts, cities still face a variety of hurdles. Getting enough money to city school districts remains a problem, for example.

And getting people to accept an American Dream that doesn’t necessarily include a big house with a two-car garage on an acre of land far from a city is a tough slog — but things are changing, he said.

Albany Times-Union