​Ed MacMahon

Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute

Mr. MacMahon was a speaker at the Mayor Lori DeLuca Open Space Symposiums.

 "We've designed physical activities and green space out of our communities.

It's called a "nature deficit."

 

          Ed McMahon is an attorney, community planner, lecturer and author; he is currently a Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C., where he holds the Charles Fraser Chair for Sustainable Development. Before joining the Urban Land Institute in 2004, Ed spent 14 years as the Vice President and Director of Land Use Planning for The Conservation Fund. Over the past 20 years, Ed has drafted numerous local land use plans and ordinances and organized successful efforts to acquire and protect urban parkland, wilderness areas and other conservation properties.

          Ed is a Trustee of the Orton Family Foundation and is also the co-founder and former President of Scenic America, a national non-profit organization devoted to protecting America’s scenic landscapes. Before that, he taught law and public policy at Georgetown University Law Center for nine years and served in the U.S. Army at home and overseas. He is the author of 15 publications and over 150 articles, including Ten Principles for Smart Growth on the Suburban Fringe; Green Infrastructure: Connecting Landscapes and Communities; Land Conservation Financing; and Balancing Nature and Commerce in Gateway Communities (see bottom of page). He also writes regularly for Urban Land Magazine, Planning Commissioners Journal and other periodicals. His latest work, Conservation Communities, was released in August, 2010.

 

"The Economics of Uniqueness"

(Presentation excerpts)

 

       - Distinctiveness has value!

​       - If you can’t differentiate yourself, you will have no competitive advantage.

​       - Some studies find as much as a 15 to 30 % increase in the value of properties adjacent to parks and open space.

       - What is the value of historic buildings, neighborhoods and landscapes?  

              "Among cities and towns with no particular recreational appeal, those that preserve their past

             continue to enjoy tourism. Those that haven’t, receive almost no tourism at all. Tourists simply 

             won’t go to a city or town that has lost its soul.” - Arthur Frommer

 

Retail

​       - Retail space grew 5x faster than retail sales; e-commerce a factor

        - Over 1 billion sq. ft. of vacant retail space-mostly empty big box stores which can be reclaimed by mixed used because the infrastructure is already there.  

        - Downtown Shopping - Multi-story, no dedicated parking but accessible by transit

 

*SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITIES

       - Develop a shared vision for the future 

       - Inventory local and regional assets 

       - Build plans around the enhancement of assets

       - Use education, incentives, partnerships, and voluntary initiatives, not just regulation 

       - Pick and choose among development proposals

       - Cooperate with neighbors for mutual benefit

       - Protect community character as well as ecology and economics

       - Have strong leaders and committed citizens