In her article, The Quiet Revolution Revived: Sustainable Design, Land Use Regulation, and the States, Sara Bronin argues that after almost four decades since the publication of The Quiet Revolution in Land Use Control by Fred Bosselman and David Callies, it is time to revive some predictions about that "quiet revolution." Bronin uses the green building example as the basis for reconsidering the necessity for "extralocal" land use controls and the interplay between state and local land use functions and authority. This is an interesting lens through which to examine a very old question, having at its core the balance of power between the two levels of government as well as the balance between development and conservation. The report by Bosselman and Callies was commissioned by the new President's Council on Environmental Quality and was published in 1971. The report analyzed several innovative state land use laws to learn how some of the most complex land use issues and problems of re-allocating responsibilities between state and local governments were being addressed, especially focusing on those laws designed to deal with problems related to land use issues of regional or state concern.

A proposed federal bill was drafted, for example, that called upon states to identify and control development in areas of critical environmental concern, assure that development of regional benefit is not blocked or unduly restricted by local governments, and control large-scale development and land use in areas impacted by key facilities. Legislation and programs cited and analyzed included the (1) Hawaiian Land Use Law, (2) Vermont Environmental Control Law, (3) San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, (4) Twin Cities Metropolitan Council, (5) Massachusetts Zoning Appeals Law, (6) Maine Site Location Law, (7) Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Program, (8) Wisconsin Shoreland Protection Program, and (9) New England River Basins Commission. The conceit embedded in the report, its major policy goal, was to assert that some problems--environmental protection and conservation in particular--were too big for local governments to handle correctly and effectively, and that something between the local and state level of regulation needed to be established to do that job. Bronin states that the "quiet revolution" never occurred, and that now it might via the opportunities presented to localities and builders by "green building."