There's something so depressing and sad about watching a succession of aerial photos (96-04) showing rich agricultural farmland turn into poured asphalt streets and a gigantic new subdivision in NW Portland. It hurts. Not that development is bad, but poor land-use planning is. We need to built "up", not "out" (less sprawl). Which is part of the reason why the Portland metropolitan area has a Urban Growth Boundary (UGB). It just seems like we could do better.
Paul sent me an article from the New Yorker which I really wish I could find a link to right now, or at least remember the title. It was about how living in New York City, because of the high density and low use of cars/high walking rate, is one of the most environmental places in the US.