Smart Growth

Smart Growth
Name	Smart Growth
Caption	Mixed-use development example
Area	Urban planning, land use
Originated	1980s
Related	New Urbanism, Transit-oriented_development, Sustainable_development

Smart Growth.

Smart Growth is an urban planning and land use approach that emphasizes compact development, mixed uses, and transportation alternatives to manage urban sprawl and promote sustainable communities. Originating in the late 20th century, it draws on ideas from Jane Jacobs, Le Corbusier critiques, New Urbanism advocacy, and policy responses to suburbanization and postwar infrastructure programs like the Interstate Highway System. Proponents link Smart Growth to regulatory reforms such as the Clean Air Act amendments, regional planning experiments in Portland, Oregon, and international sustainability frameworks including the Brundtland Report.

Overview

Smart Growth integrates techniques from New Urbanism, Transit-oriented_development, Landscape_architecture, and Regional_planning to reshape metropolitan form. Key antecedents include the critiques by Lewis Mumford and writings in The Death and Life of Great American Cities, as well as implementation models in cities like Portland, Oregon, Curitiba, and Copenhagen. Policy instruments often reference statutes such as the Surface Transportation Assistance Act and initiatives linked to agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation (United States). Academic research appears in journals associated with Harvard Graduate School of Design, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and reports by think tanks like the Brookings Institution and the Urban Land Institute.

Principles and Objectives

Principles emphasize compactness, mixed-use development, walkability, preservation of open space, and multimodal transportation networks. These echo goals promoted by advocates such as Andrés Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and organizations like Congress for the New Urbanism and the Local Government Commission. Objectives align with international agendas like the Millennium Development Goals and Paris Agreement climate targets via reductions in vehicle miles traveled measured by studies from RAND Corporation and National Academy of Sciences. Smart Growth also aims to connect housing strategies found in programs by Habitat for Humanity and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with transit projects by authorities like Metropolitan Transit Authority (New York) and Transport for London.

Planning and Policy Instruments

Common instruments include zoning reform, urban growth boundaries, density bonuses, form-based codes, and tax increment financing. Examples of legislative and administrative tools appear in the Urban Growth Boundary in Oregon Ballot Measure 37 debates, the adoption of Form-based codes in Miami, and fiscal incentives used by development agencies such as Economic Development Administration (United States). Funding and project delivery mechanisms reference entities like the Federal Transit Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, World Bank, and multilateral financiers like the European Investment Bank. Planning processes often engage stakeholders including American Planning Association, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and private developers exemplified by firms associated with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Implementation and Case Studies

Notable implementations include Portland, Oregon's regional strategies, Curitiba's bus rapid transit system, Vancouver's high-density neighborhoods, Barcelona's superblocks, and Singapore's land-use policies. U.S. state programs in Maryland and California adopted Smart Growth grants and planning directives tied to agencies like the California Coastal Commission and the Maryland Department of Planning. International projects link to frameworks used by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and urban renovations in cities such as Seoul (Cheonggyecheon restoration) and Stockholm (transit expansion). Case studies appear in municipal plans from Seattle, Austin, Texas, and Minneapolis–Saint Paul Metropolitan Area and in evaluations by the EPA Smart Growth Program and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Benefits and Criticisms

Advocates cite benefits including reduced greenhouse gas emissions as modeled by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios, improved public health outcomes studied by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and enhanced economic vitality documented by National Bureau of Economic Research analyses. Criticisms originate from scholars at institutions like Cato Institute and community groups concerned with displacement and gentrification observed in neighborhoods studied by University of California, Berkeley and Columbia University. Debates reference legal disputes over property rights in cases involving entities such as the Supreme Court of the United States and policy tensions highlighted in reports by the Heritage Foundation and the Brookings Institution.

Economic and Environmental Impacts

Economic impacts include changes in property values assessed by Zillow analyses, shifts in commuting costs examined by American Public Transportation Association, and fiscal effects on municipal budgets reviewed by the Government Accountability Office. Environmental impacts involve measurable outcomes on air quality influenced by Clean Air Act monitoring, stormwater management techniques promoted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and biodiversity considerations studied by World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy. Cross-disciplinary evaluations appear in research by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and international assessments from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Category:Urban planning