Introducing “Building Resilient States: Profiles in Action”
Communities shouldn’t wait for a flood or a hurricane to see how land use choices will affect their ability to remain resilient in the face of disaster.
Author: Smart Growth America
Building Resilient States: Profiles in Action
In October 2015, the Governors’ Institute on Community Design, a program run in partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Smart Growth America, released Building Resilient States: A Framework for Agencies, a report intended to introduce and integrate land use and transportation issues into states’ conversations about resilience. The Framework was designed to help … Continued
Webinar recording: Three toolkits for smart growth in rural places
In late April Smart Growth America released three new toolkits for smart growth in rural places. Our Community Facilities Location toolkit helps communities make the most of new facilities like hospitals or post offices. Our Well-Placed Affordable Housing toolkit looks at creating centrally located housing infrastructure. And our Fiscal Impact Analysis toolkit looks at how local government can better understand the long-term financial implications of decisions about new development.
Speaker presentations from the 2017 LOCUS Leadership Summit
Commissioner John Schroer of the Tennessee Department of Transportation was one of the presenters at the 2017 LOCUS Leadership Summit.
The 2017 LOCUS Leadership Summit featured an exceptional group of real estate developers, investors, local elected officials, and transportation professionals who came together to discuss a range of topics affecting walkable, urban development in the United States today.
The Summit’s speakers talked about cutting-edge ideas for public/private partnerships, local and federal policy, place-making benefits, and more. If you are interested in a recap of what got discussed, all of this year’s speaker presentations are below.
What the new, short-term federal budget means for smart growth
Today, President Trump signed into law a $1.1 trillion budget to continue funding the government for the rest of Fiscal Year 2017, which runs through the end of September.
This legislation overall maintains funding for key federal programs critical to rebuilding neighborhoods and providing attainable housing and affordable transportation options. Here’s what the bill contains for smart growth-related programs
New CDC recommendations combine transportation and land use strategies to promote physical activity
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released new recommendations to promote physical activity by implementing a combination of transportation and land use interventions. The recommendations stem from the Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF), an independent panel of 15 public health and medical experts appointed by the CDC Director with the objective of identifying evidence-based interventions to improve health and quality of life. The panel includes distinguished doctors, professors, and researchers with expertise in health promotion and disease prevention. They conducted a comprehensive review of 90 studies examining the relationship between the built environment and physical activity to determine how best to promote exercise. Their new recommendations are an important step forward to understanding the linkages between health-related behavior and how we build our towns and cities.
A recap of the 2017 LOCUS Leadership Summit
The 2017 LOCUS National Leadership Summit took place at the historic National Press Club in Washington, DC, bringing together responsible real estate developers, investors, transportation professionals, and local leaders from across the country to talk about obstacles and opportunities in building walkable neighborhoods served by transit.
Announcing the winners of the 2017 LOCUS Leadership Awards
For the past five years, LOCUS has presented our annual LOCUS Leadership Awards to developers and investors who have demonstrated exemplary commitment to public leadership, smart growth development, and who have furthered our mission of advocating for sustainable, walkable urban development. We received an unprecedented number of nominations this year and are pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 LOCUS Leadership Awards.
“Integrating Complete Streets, Vision Zero, and Transportation Equity” webinar recap
Last week we hosted the third installment in our monthly webinar series, Implementation & Equity 201: The Path Forward to Complete Streets. The webinar focused on “Integrating Complete Streets, Vision Zero, and Transportation Equity” and featured speakers from Memphis, Tennessee. Watch the full video recording of the webinar above, or download the PDF of the presentation.
A discussion recap
Emiko Atherton, Director of the National Complete Streets Coalition, kicked off the webinar by highlighting the opportunity for Complete Streets and Vision Zero to work together in pursuit of transportation equity. She presented findings from Dangerous by Design 2016, including that 46,149 people were struck and killed by cars while walking between 2005 and 2014, and that people of color and people age 65 or older are overrepresented among those deaths. Byron Rushing, President of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals and Bicycle & Pedestrian Planner at the Atlanta Regional Commission, emphasized the importance of planning for both safety and equity simultaneously by combining Complete Streets strategies with a Vision Zero approach.
A Tennessee trio wins our first Complete Streets Consortium award
A green lane for bicyclists in Knoxville, TN. Photo via the Knoxville Mercury.
Building a connected network of streets that is safe for everyone, no matter how they travel, takes region-wide collaboration. Our newest technical assistance award is designed to help three agencies in Tennessee do just that.
Smart Growth America and our program the National Complete Streets Coalition are proud to announce that a partnership of agencies in Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Nashville, TN is the winner of our first-ever Complete Streets Consortium technical assistance.