Hundreds of cities around the world hold PARK(ing) Day on the third Friday in September where dozens of parking spots that are usually reserved for stationary, empty cars are transformed into places for people. Here’s a look at a few of the “parklets” scattered around our office in Washington, DC and what their creators had to say about them.
The Rockefeller Foundation and Smart Growth America today announced the launch of the National Opportunity Zones Academy, which will help cities drive sustainable growth in Opportunity Zones by attracting socially responsible investment. Five cities so far have been selected to participate: Chicago, Greater Miami and the Beaches, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Norfolk, VA.
The conversation on climate change tends to focus on a few big things—electric vehicles, renewable energy, putting a price on carbon. But no matter how much progress we make on those fronts, Democrats and Republicans remain deeply committed to antiquated policy that undermines any action we take on climate change: spending billions to build new highways, encouraging more and more driving.
In the conversations about cities, much of the media attention has been focused on young professional or older, retiring Americans. But families with children have been largely overlooked in the midst of our current urban renaissance. There has been some recent debated over whether the number of children (and thus families) is increasing or on the decline in cities, and it got us thinking: what would a place designed for families look like?
Smart Growth America seeks a dynamic and passionate individual to support the Thriving Communities Team as an Administrative Coordinator. The Thriving Communities Team weaves together complementary disciplines to partner with diverse local leaders to create healthy places where people can prosper. You should be a dynamic, organized, people person, who is a master multi-tasker with excellent communication skills and a “can-do” attitude.
LOCUS Massachusetts is seeking a Policy & Communications Fellow (Fall/Winter 2019) to help advance SGA’s role in thought leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance. Specifically, the LOCUS MA Policy & Communications Fellow works to support SGA’s goals of promoting smarter land-use and development policies across New England communities and is based in Boston, MA.
New Rochelle, New York struggled for years to stimulate catalytic development in it’s downtown. Now, this New York City suburb is emerging as a walkable, transit-oriented hub for residents to live, work, and play. A form-based code is making all the difference by spurring new development that is predictable, expedited, and responsive to community interests.
More than a decade ago, local business and civic leaders in Indianapolis realized that for the city to remain competitive it needed to be better at moving people. Today, after an exhaustive planning process, changes to state law, and a successful local referendum where local voters raised their income taxes to invest in transit, the first major piece of Indianapolis’s transit upgrade is set to open.
![Adam E. Moreira [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)]](https://smartgrowthamerica.org/app/uploads/2019/08/RedLineCharlesMGH-1024x768.jpg)
LOCUS Massachusetts supports Governor Charlie Baker’s continued leadership on the Transportation and Climate Initiative (TCI).
LOCUS: Responsible Real Estate Developers and Investors seeks a full-time Real Estate Policy and Analysis Fellow to support our national coalition of smart growth developers and investors advocating for sustainable, equitable, and walkable development in America’s cities and towns. LOCUS is a program of Smart Growth America, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization working to improve everyday life for people across the country through better planning and development.