Cities and zoning and sustainability

Monday’s Le Monde includes a special supplement on sustainable growth and
one of the articles deals with the connection between urban life and environmental sustainability.  The article points out that by 2050, 70 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas versus just over 50 percent today.  Already, however, 80 percent of CO2 emissions come from urban areas.

It’s hard to bring this to bear in settings like the current revisions of Washington, D.C.’s zoning regulations.  Yet this is one of the areas where positive steps could be taken to reduce those emissions.  Obviously, the more people use cars to get around, the more gas is being burned and the more CO2 is pumped into the atmosphere.  We should be doing everything we can to discourage cars and encourage Metro, right?  What happens, however, when planning officials, ever so carefully, suggest that new zoning rules might reduce on-street parking in some neighborhoods close to Metro stops?  Neighborhood list-serves start buzzing and people start mobilizing their neighbors against the idea.  In Northwest Washington, D.C. it seems almost any hint of higher density development around Metro stations provokes similar reactions.