Ready for $4 per gallon gas?

That is the question posed by a new Planetizen article. Scott Bernstein of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the article’s author, says the most effective solution is to reduce the demand by creating more “location-efficient” communities: “Our research shows that households in “location‐efficient” communities were less vulnerable to the 2008 gas spike. Comparing July 2000 to July 2008 gas prices (and assuming driving behaviors remained the same), we found that transportation costs as a percentage of income increased from 9.7 percent to 12.6 percent for households earning the area median income in the most location‐efficient communities. Meanwhile, typical regional households earning the area median income in the least efficient and least convenient places saw their transportation costs increase from 27.9 percent of their income in 2000 to 35.8 percent of their income in 2008.” Read Scott Bernstein’s full Planetizen article here.