16 Rules for ‘Smarter’ Smart Growth

Read the full story in Atlantic Cities.

I hesitate to write yet another article about bringing “smart growth,” the combination of ideas born in the 1990s to counter suburban sprawl – into the 21st century. I’ve long argued that, at a minimum, it’s time to update the so-called “ten principle” adopted back then by the Smart Growth Network that emphasize compact development, transportation choices, and so on. We’ve learned so much since then, about green infrastructure, food, health, green buildings, the merits of moderate density, revitalization and gentrification, and more, that would allow us to make communities even smarter.

But most smart growth advocates remain concentrated on the infill+density+transit formula of the 1990s. The one major addition to the menu that I would recognize since the 1990s has been walkability (and perhaps its cousin, complete streets), and it’s an important one. But that’s about it, for what the major parts of the smart growth movement spend their time on.

So I was heartened to see a Twitter link earlier this week to an article in the awkwardly named UrbDeZine San Diego titled “10 Rules for Smarter Smart Growth.” I have company in this lonely quest!

 

You Be The Planner: Figure Out How To Grow A City Responsibly

Read the full story at FastCo.Exist.

From participatory budgets to civic engagement games, cities are coming up with all kinds of new ways to bring citizens into the planning process. And here’s another nice idea: a “housing simulator” from Auckland.

 

Indianapolis Building First Empty-Ballpark Apartments

Read the full story in Governing.

Some baseball fans like the sport so much they buy season tickets. But sports junkies in Indianapolis may be able to take their passion even further: Starting this summer, they’ll be able to live in a stadium.

In August, workers will complete the process of converting the historic minor league ballpark in Indianapolis into a high-end, 138-unit apartment complex dubbed Stadium Lofts. It’s believed to be the country’s first housing development located in a former ballpark.

 

Green Infrastructure Aims to Reshape Philadelphia

Read the full story from Sustainable Communities E-News.

In 2012, the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania adopted a landmark program that could change the direction of infrastructure investments made in CSO-affected communities across the country. Informed by years of watershed-based planning, the Philadelphia Water Department’s (PWD’s) Green City, Clean Waters program deploys green infrastructure strategies as the primary tool for addressing CSOs and spurring sustainable urban redevelopment.

 

Chicago On-Track To Break Ground On Elevated Parkway

Read the full story at ArchDaily.

Chicago is set to be the next U.S. city to park-ify on one of its abandoned rail-lines. First proposed back in 1997, the 2.7 mile, 13-acre Bloomingdale Trail and Park is proposed for a stretch of abandoned railway trestle dating from 1910, which has been lying unused since the turn of the century. And, even though it is already being compared to New-York’s High Line, the planners are adamant that the park will be an entirely different animal to its New York cousin.

 

Q&A: Ellen Dunham-Jones on retrofitting suburbia

Read the full story at SmartPlanet.

Imagine a suburban backyard swimming pool as a tilapia farm. Or rail transit on every big city corridor. That could be the future of “retrofitting suburbia,” a method of transforming existing suburban developments into sustainable, more urbanized locales. From Austin to Washington, D.C., cities across the country are already converting unused strip malls into libraries and dead suburban malls into college campuses. The future could be even more innovative.

I spoke recently with Ellen Dunham-Jones, professor of architecture and urban design at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the author with June Williamson of Retrofitting Suburbia. Below are excerpts from our interview.

 

An Urban-Suburban Compromise to Revitalize a Buffalo Neighborhood

Read the full story at Atlantic Cities.

A century ago, Buffalo’s Hydraulics District, a manufacturing and warehouse area one mile from downtown, was booming. This was thanks in a large part to the Larkin Company, one of the nation’s largest mail order retailers.

But competition with the department store eventually proved too much. Larkin went bust in the 1940s, and it brought the neighborhood down with it. Even the company’s famous administration building was demolished in 1950. The building, a progressive temple for the modern workplace designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (his first ever office building) was converted into surface parking.

But in the last few years, the neighborhood known as “Larkinville” has reemerged as a hub of economic activity. The once devastated neighborhood now posesses a growing collection of public space, mixed-use initiatives and offices. It’s the city’s most unexpected and perhaps most successful urban development initiative in decades.

 

National Conversation on the Future of Our Communities Compendium

Download the document.

In summer 2012, the Smart Growth Network sponsored a call for papers on the development issues facing our communities in the next 15 years and the steps we will take to solve them. We received 95 papers in response. As we hoped, we heard from established thought leaders in the field and also from many new voices. We heard from planners and architects, university professors, environmental groups and community development organizations, county health departments, engineering firms, a mayor and a police captain, and many others all working to improve the quality of life in their communities.

Each paper was reviewed by a panel of experts from the Smart Growth Network, 20 were selected for a compendium. The panel looked for papers that touched on a broad range of topics, were forward thinking, and presented new ideas.

We hoped with this project to start a conversation on thorny issues the smart growth movement has yet to resolve, issues that have received too little attention, and issues that have escaped us altogether. We believe we have achieved that goal, and we thank the many authors who took the time to draft and submit papers and work with us. We invite you to read them, share them with others, and use them as a springboard to continue the conversation in your community.

 

EPA Invites Communities to Apply for Smart Growth Assistance

EPA’s Smart Growth Implementation Assistance (SGIA) program provides technical assistance to help communities grow in ways that improve the local economy, the environment, and people’s health. The program aims to help applicants develop solutions to local challenges, such as managing stormwater, increasing transit-oriented development, and adapting to climate change, and to share those solutions with other communities.

EPA will be accepting applications from tribal, local, regional, and state governments and nonprofit organizations that have partnered with a governmental entity for their request for assistance. Applications will be accepted until March 1, 2013. EPA will provide assistance to three to four communities selected from this round of applications.

EPA is seeking applications in the following four categories:

1. Community Resilience to Disasters and Climate Change – Projects should aim to develop planning principles and building design guidelines that ensure future development provides communities with better protection against storms, floods, and other natural disasters.
2. Redevelopment for Job Creation – Projects should aim to support growing industries that provide quality jobs for existing residents using land use policies that direct development to existing neighborhoods, are pedestrian-friendly, allow for transit connections, and are close to businesses and public services.
3. Manufactured and Modular Homes in Sustainable Neighborhood Design – Projects should help communities that are using manufactured and modular homes to address sudden population and economic growth. These communities should provide a mix of uses and maximize existing streets and other infrastructure investments, community gathering spaces, and water and energy efficiency.
4. Medical and Social Service Facilities Siting – Projects should aim to explore planning for high-quality community service facilities, including health care centers and social services centers, in ways that support neighborhood economic development and healthy communities.

Since 2005, the SGIA program has helped an array of communities from across the country on issues such as stormwater management, code revision, transit-oriented development, affordable housing, infill development, corridor planning, green building, and climate change. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) became involved with the SGIA program through the Partnership for Sustainable Communities. This interagency collaboration coordinates federal investments in infrastructure, facilities, and services to get better results for communities and use taxpayer money more efficiently. In many cases, HUD and DOT serve on the SGIA technical assistance teams, and help identify how SGIA projects can complement and build on past and future federal investments.

• More information on the SGIA program and applications: http://epa.gov/smartgrowth/sgia.htm
• More information on the Partnership for Sustainable Communities: http://www.sustainablecommunities.gov

 

 

EPA Provides Tools for Sustainable Communities

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today released a first-of-its kind report showing how low-income, minority and tribal communities can apply smart growth land use and development strategies to create healthy communities, spur economic growth and protect the environment.

The Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities report describes how low-income, minority, and tribal communities can employ smart growth strategies to clean up and reinvest in existing neighborhoods; provide affordable housing and transportation; and improve access to jobs, parks and stores. The report also provides smart growth practitioners with concrete ideas on how they can better meet the needs of low-income residents as they promote development or redevelopment in underserved communities.

“The way communities are designed and built has an important influence on public health, the quality of our air and water, and economic vitality,” said Michael Goo, associate administrator for EPA’s Office of Policy. “EPA hopes this report will help smart growth and environmental justice advocates work together more effectively to achieve the best results possible for communities.”

“Historically, environmental justice and smart growth have been viewed as separate interests, yet communities across the U.S. are showing that they are actually complementary,” said Lisa Garcia, associate assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice. “Combining these principles and focusing on equitable development can help community-based organizations, local planners, and other stakeholders achieve healthy and sustainable communities for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic status.”

The report also features case studies on seven communities across the country that have used the strategies described in the report. These strategies include:

• designing safe streets for all users
• cleaning and reusing contaminated properties
• reducing exposure to facilities with potential environmental concerns
• fixing existing infrastructure before investing in new projects
• preserving affordable housing

The Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities report was developed by EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and Office of Sustainable Communities.

• More information about the report: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/equitable_development_report.htm
• More information about the Office of Environmental Justice: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice
• More information about the Office of Sustainable Communities: http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth