For the first time in the agency’s history, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded $100 million in grants today to help communities become more livable and sustainable, by connecting housing to jobs and transportaiton options. The 45 regional winners from communities small and large across the country embody precisely the kind of innovation and creativity federal policy should be supporting.

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs today approved Chairman Christopher Dodd’s (D-CT) Livable Communities Act, S. 1619. The Act would take unprecedented steps to help communities deal with a range of critical issues, from traffic congestion to housing affordability to neighborhood stability.

Photo via Reconnecting America Shelley Poticha, president of Reconnecting America and a co-chair of the Transportation for America campaign, has been appointed to be senior advisor of Sustainable Housing and Communities at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It’s a new office at HUD that would be created by legislation currently being assembled [...]

A commitment to clean transportation and smart growth puts Portland at the top of SustainLane’s sustainability rankings for the biggest 50 U.S cities. (Christian Science Monitor – Eoin O’Carroll)

Looking at factors that range from transportation and housing to innovation and investment, Ethisphere Magazine lists 10 large cities and 10 mid-size cities that are working to become “global sustainability centers” by 2020.

An assistant professor from Arizona State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability argues that highway-centric development in the region is unsustainable, and presses for denser development as well as more local and regional control over the planning process. (Arizona Republic — Aaron Golub)