This article by Ed Glaeser, who presented some of this stuff at the conference I went to, is worth reading.
Key points: carbon footprints generally lower in cities, though of course carbon footprints depend heavily on local weather. Places with low carbon footprints, such as the San Francisco area, tend to have stringent land use restrictions which restrict environmentally friendly higher density living.
...adding, such places are fairly dense but could be denser is the point.
(via bunch)
