What is Smart Growth?

During the past 20 years or so it has become apparent that the traditional approach to managing land use and community growth has not had, in all cases, the most desirable results. That traditional approach meant separating land uses from one another with the expectation that it would protect activities from being at odds with one another such as an industrial plant next to a neighborhood of homes.

The effect has been to make our communities spread, become auto-dependent, encourage sprawl (the spreading of new development onto undeveloped open spaces), and to see decline in many of our downtowns and village centers. In response, community planners and managers nation-wide have been discussing alternative approaches to managing growth. The collective body of ideas has been called Smart Growth.

Smart Growth has been defined many ways over the years. Among all of the ideas generated, there are some common themes.  At its core, it is about the following ideals:

Smart Growth is growth that:

• Preserves valued community and natural resources while growing the economy.
• Places development where there is or will be infrastructure (water, sewer, roads, and schools) and optimizes infrastructure use before expanding.
• Encourages and prioritizes re-use of previously developed sites or new development in targeted growth areas.
• Takes steps to preserve and safeguard land identified for preservation.
• Pursues a compact, mixed-use pattern of development for key areas that preserves or creates walkable neighborhoods and village character.
• Provides a range of type and style of housing so that households from young adults to seniors can choose to live in town.
• Promotes a transportation system that encourages travel by a variety of means (walking, bicycling, and transit in addition to the automobile).
• Works with the community to learn about these principles and how they are implemented and to then prepare a vision of where and how it wants to grow.