Starting in 2023 we are gaining momentum towards building a better Des Moines. For the past 5 years the Des Moines metropolitan area has been the fastest growing metro in the Midwest.
We have gained over 100,000 residents in the past 10 years, and when combined with Ames the central Iowa combined metropolitan area now includes almost 900,000 residents and is racing towards 1 million. The big city problems that once seemed so far removed from Iowa are encroaching every day.
A vast majority of this growth has been unsustainable suburban sprawl. We continue to build car depending neighborhoods with strict zoning separations with limited to zero planning for other modes of transportation. This style of development locks people into high carbon living, creates communities that are hostile to those who cannot own a personal vehicle for economic or disability reasons, and perpetuates a public development model akin to a ponzi scheme where communities can only maintain their level of service with more growth.
At Momentum, we are educating and advocating for change, and for a better built urban environment in a state that still thinks of itself as rural. While we are just getting started, we have big goals, and hope you will join us!
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