1.3: Smart growth – Emphasis on Sustainability

Smart Growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use development with a range of housing choices. The term 'smart growth' is particularly useful in North America. In Europe and particularly the UK, the terms 'Compact City' or 'urban intensification' have often been used to describe similar concepts, which have influenced government planning policies in the UK, the Netherlands and several other European countries.

Smart growth values long-range, regional considerations of 'sustainability' over a short-term focus. Its sustainable development goals are to achieve a unique sense of community and place; expand the range of transportation, employment, and housing choices; equitably distribute the costs and benefits of development; preserve and enhance natural and cultural resources; and promote public health.

The concept of "smart growth" emerged in 1992 from the United Nation's adoption of Agenda 21 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Driven by "new guard" urban planners, architects, developers, community activists, and historic preservationists, it accepts that growth and development will continue to occur, and so seeks to direct that growth in an intentional, comprehensive way.

Smart growth principles focus on developing sustainable communities that are good places to live, to do business, to work, and to raise families. Some of the fundamental aims for the benefits of residents and the communities are increasing family income and wealth, improving access to quality education, fostering livable, safe and healthy places, stimulating economic activity (both locally and regionally), and developing, preserving and investing in physical resources.

Principles and practices

There is a need to distinguish between smart growth "principles" and smart growth "regulations". The former are concepts and the latter their implementation, that is, how federal, state, and municipal governments choose to fulfill smart growth principles. One of the earliest efforts to establish smart growth forward as a regulatory framework were put forth by the American Planning Association (APA). In 1997, the APA introduced a project called Growing Smart and published "Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Model Statutes for Planning and the Management of Change." The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defines smart growth as “development that serves the economy, the community, and the environment. It changes the terms of the development debate away from the traditional growth/no growth question to how and where should new development be accommodated” Smart growth is related to, or may be used in combination with the following concepts.

There are 10 accepted principles that define smart growth:

• Mix land uses
• Take advantage of compact building design
• Create a range of housing opportunities and choices
• Create walkable neighborhoods
• Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place
• Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas
• Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities
• Provide a variety of transportation choices
• Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective
• Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions

The smart growth approach to development is multifaceted and can encompass a variety of techniques. For example, in the state of Massachusetts smart growth came to fruition by a combination of techniques including increasing housing density along transit nodes, conserving farmland, and mixing residential and commercial use areas. Perhaps the most descriptive term to characterize this concept is 'Traditional Neighbor Development', which recognizes that smart growth and related concepts are not necessarily new, but are a response to car culture and sprawl. Many favor the term 'New Urbanism', which invokes a new, but traditional way of looking at urban planning. There are ranges of best practices associated with smart growth that include:

• Supporting existing communities
• Redeveloping underutilized sites
• Enhancing economic competitiveness
• Providing more transportation choices
• Developing livability measures and tools
• Promoting equitable and affordable housing
• Providing a vision for sustainable growth
• Enhancing integrated planning and investment
• Aligning; coordinating; and leveraging government policies
• Redefining housing affordability
• Making the development process transparent

Related but somewhat different, are the overarching goals of smart growth, and they include:

• Making the community more competitive for new businesses
• Providing alternative places to shop, work, and play
• Creating a better "Sense of Place"
• Providing jobs for residents
• Increasing property values
• Improving quality of life, expanding the tax base
• Preserving open space and controlling growth
• Improving safety