Rethink College Park has a thoughtful roundup of the great promise but disappointing results of the Smart Growth and Neighborhood Conservation Act of 1997. That law created incentives for development in denser, transit-accessible parts of the state over the creation of more sprawl. Unfortunately, it hasn’t lived up to its promise, blocking some sprawl but failing to stop much more, and losing to NIMBYism in the battle to concentrate growth in already-dense areas.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.