A few weeks ago, SGA brought leadership teams representing five cities to Denver to see firsthand how investing in a unique sense of place and vibrant, walkable neighborhoods is at the heart of a new economic development strategy — helping to attract new residents and jobs, support existing businesses, and benefit everyone’s quality of life.
Explore our Twitter recap to relive all the great moments and conversations from the Amazing Place Ideas Forum.
On August 29-31, 2017, five cities from around the country gathered in Denver, Colorado to see innovative placemaking strategies in action. The Amazing Place Ideas Forum, presented by Smart Growth America with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, brought a brain trust of local leaders together to participate in an interactive and experiential learning opportunity.
When roughly 14 miles of a bus rapid transit line was proposed along Division Street in East Portland, the effort was greeted with interest in an often-neglected area of the city, but also concern about the possibilities of displacement and development poorly engaged with the unique local culture. To address those concerns, community members throughout the Jade and Division Midway districts were engaged through arts and culture projects to recalibrate the plan to better serve community needs.
What begun as a sort of arts-driven guerilla marketing campaign for the fictional return of a historic streetcar in the border communities of El Paso, TX and Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, is becoming a reality, illustrating the power of the arts to capture the imagination of a community and help them look at old problems in different ways and imagine creative solutions.
We are proud to announce that six state departments of transportation will receive free technical assistance designed to develop flexible ways to meet their users’ needs with practical solutions that cost less to design, build and maintain.
Smart Growth America seeks a candidate to provide administrative support to program staff providing support across a variety of issues.
Smart Growth America (SGA) and its program Transportation for America (T4A) seek a personable, detail-oriented and creative individual to serve as an Arts & Culture/Outreach Associate, who will assist with growing & executing the organization’s key projects, communicate with members, non-members and others in an outreach and relationship building role, and assist in building SGA/T4A’s creative placemaking practice.
Civic and elected leaders in the South Carolina capital want to create a more competitive Columbia for tomorrow, and they’re eager to find out how a new approach to economic development can get them there.
From native American history to the birthplace of great American music, Macon, Georgia, has a rich heritage. City leaders have witnessed the positive returns of a place-based approach to economic development, but those efforts have largely originated outside of government. Macon’s Amazing Place leadership team of mostly elected officials wants to learn more about bringing those same strategies in-house.
The National Complete Streets Coalition is excited to announce the return of our monthly webinar series, designed to help professionals from a variety of disciplines put Complete Streets into action. Implementation & Equity 201: The Path Forward to Complete Streets is exploring a new issue each month related to creating safer, healthier, more equitable streets.
Our next webinar, Impact of Emerging Technologies on Complete Streets takes place on Tuesday, September 12th from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT. Co-hosts Stantec and Transportation for America’s Smart Cities Collaborative will join the Coalition in answering questions such as: How will emerging technologies such as connected and autonomous vehicles change the way we design and use our streets? And what are cities doing today to prepare for these innovations?