We need to create a sustainable infrastructure, one that will work in world of relatively expensive energy. Creating such an infrastructure has nothing to do with composite growth of the overall economy per se. The 'smart growth' label associates intelligent infrastructure development with the destructive and outdated goal of everlasting increases in economic wealth. It is a shame to see this kind association being perpetuated on this web site.

Well said.

Smart Growth = Oxymoron

When I was a kid I was fascinated by The Guinness Book of World Records. One of the stories I still remember was of the world's tallest person. He had a genetic-based disease. What struck me about his story was how badly his health was, and how early he died, because of his extreme rate and extent of growth.

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/human_body/extreme_bodies/ta...

The tallest man in medical history for whom there is irrefutable evidence is Robert Pershing Wadlow. He was born at Alton, Illinois, USA, on February 22, 1918, and when he was last measured on June 27, 1940, was found to be 2.72 m (8 ft 11.1 in) tall.

Wadlow died at 1:30 a.m. on July 15, 1940, in a hotel in Manistee, Michigan, as a result of a septic blister on his right ankle caused by a brace, which had been poorly fitted only a week earlier. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Alton, in a coffin measuring 3.28 m (10 ft 9 in) long, 81 cm (32 in) wide and 76 cm (30 in) deep.

Wadlow's greatest recorded weight was 222.71 kg (35 st 1 lb) on his 21st birthday and he weighed 199 kg (31 st 5 lb) at the time of his death. His shoe size was 37AA (47 cm, 18½ in long) and his hands measured 32.4 cm (12¾ in) from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. He wore a size 25 ring. His arm span was 2.88 m (9 ft 5¾ in) and his peak daily food consumption was 8000 calories.

At the age of nine, he was able to carry his father Harold F. Wadlow, later Mayor of Alton, who stood 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) and weighed 77 kg (170 lb), up the stairs of the family home.

I like the analogy of human gigantism because it makes clear the absurdity of the desire for unending growth. Of course the true believers in everlasting growth will take refuge in dematerialization; We are going to produced exponentially more economic output with the same consumption of energy and materials forever, world without end, amen.