The Promise and Perils of "New Regionalist" Approaches to Sustainable Communities

This article examines the Obama Administration's Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program as an example of new regionalism and new governance. The article outlines new regionalism's response to the failure of local government law, explains the relationship between new regionalism and new governance, and examines the regulatory structure of the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program. After considering the strengths and weaknesses of the Grant Program, this article uses the case study of Madison, Wisconsin to analyze the Grant Program's ability to advance distributive justice.