As global warming advances, regions across the country are engaging in sustainability planning. Arguably the cutting edge of this movement is in California, not only because state legislation requires land use and transportation planning to target reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, but also because its combination of pioneering environmental regulation, business technological innovation, and Left Coast politics generates a unique conversation about how to blend the "three Es" of sustainability (environment, economy, and equity). This book thus conveys the lessons this grand experiment offers us about the path moving forward for cities and regions across the globe. The book is structured as chapters about neighborhoods, the economy, and poverty, each including "vignettes" that use stories from practice to help solve puzzles posed by academic research.

With an audience of students, policymakers, and planning practitioners in mind, this book challenges and reconstructs three traditional premises of urban planning and policymaking - the ideas of creating diversity, fostering opportunity, and growing places - in light of on-going transformation in the structure of households, government, and the economy. This thought-provoking book advocates updating policies to reflect the transformation of our population, economy, and location preferences so that our best plans for sustainability are no longer misaligned with the toolkit available for implementation.