Build a world-class rail system between cities and within them to transport people and goods more efficiently.

Change zoning and land-use regulations to promote mixed-use walkable development.

Walkable developments currently subsidize car-dependent developments. End the subsidies for car-dependent development by requiring developers to pay the true cost of utilities and transportation in sprawling developments.

Our nation's food system is extremely unsustainable in terms of energy use, water use, land use, ecological systems, community, and economics. Shifting food production to a more localized system in that is in close proximity to the population it sustains (in urban areas or immediately adjacent to them) has numerous benefits including job creation, better defining urban boundaries, reduced energy use, reduced environmental impacts, urban livability, education and awareness of food production, and more accountability, which leads to a more humane, sustainable, and healthy food system overall.

Affordable housing is necessary in urban areas, especially in these troubled economic times. Recognize and build on the work of successful affordable housing initiatives/programs/non-profits.

Create federal guidelines for urban street development that takes account all road users. This includes pedestrians, bicycles, buses, automobiles and trucks. Success of roads should never be measured by movement of private automobiles alone.

Cities are about the mobility of people, not moving and parking cars. Variable parking pricing, congestion pricing, bike parking, safe pedestrian crossings among issues would be promoted.

Price pressure is the only way to get Americans to change their bad habits. The change in lifestyle we need will take too long if we just subsidize smarter development. The money raised should be directed to mass transit, pedestrian, and bicycle infrastructure.

To build an efficient green economy, we need to move beyond the single-minded focus of many current transportation models and FHWA programs on moving cars and trucks. The better goal is moving people comfortably where they want to go, whether the best choice is walking, biking, riding transit or driving. Federal funding should encourage the creation of efficient grids of multi-modal streets that support livable neighborhoods with a range of nearby amenities. Big arterial strips and large highways are the cheap-and-dirty energy infrastructure of the 20th Century.

support the development of charging stations for electric vehicles and "green fuel" stations, especially in dense/urban areas.

We live regionally, but few places in the country have been able to mobilize themselves to think and plan that way. People, jobs, goods, animals, air, water, etc. all move across and through regions all the time. Many of the problems we need to solve (CO2, GHG, vibrant economies) require us to get jurisdictions working together to think about how to manage these systems in sustainable, economically productive ways. Transportation money has been the best federal tool so far - are there more? Can we do more to ensure the federal powers of persuasion really work?

Reprioritize how federal transportation and infrastructure dollars are allocated to incentivize compact walkable communities rather than sprawl. Significant infrastructure improvements and investments in schools, parks, libraries, etc are needed to support compact, well-planned growth. The current funding structure subsidizes sprawl by building new roads and infrastrucure into the exurbs.

End the transportation bill formula that rewards regions that have more miles driven, and instead reward regions with greater milage reduction.

Create more and longer-term financing options for walkable developments that encourage the built environment to be built for the long-term.

Many wastewater treatment plants and water distribution systems have reached the end of their 50-year life cycle and are badly in need of upgrades. Moreover, the majority of jurisdictions do not have the funds to construct regional stormwater treatment facilities. This office could set new, sustainably minded standards for such facilities and provide the adequate funding to construct them.

It's time to increase public funding for the oldest and most successful federal urban program in U.S. history, CDBG. It has been historically underfunded, but remains the most flexible and locally oriented urban program in existence.

Youth are often overlooked in urban planning processes, yet the decisions made will affect them powerfully. By engaging youth, you can improve conditions for all bikers, pedestrians, and vulnerable populations. In addition, young people will become active citizens for the rest of their lives!

Streamlining permitting and zoning to allow small-scale industrial operations that are "green" and produce little or no negative impacts on the surrounding community is a great idea for increasing environmental equity and revitalizing depressed urban communities.

Support planning and development practices that attempt to curb urban sprawl while enabling vulnerable groups and families to participate in and benefit from economic growth and activity as communities rebound.