In order to introduce the smart growth movement, we need to answer the big five “wh” questions.
When? I think it all began in the US with Henry David Thoreau when he escaped urban life and retreated to his handmade hut in Walden, 1845. He invented, or at least defined, the concept of civil disobedience to protest against tax hikes that were implemented to finance the war against Mexico in 1848. The paradox is that this man who wrote “…we find very little virtue in this action of masses” has inspired whole movements.
