Blog

Jersey City, Birmingham, and Raleigh win new workshops for revitalization without displacement

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Birmingham, AL’s Woodlawn neighborhood will be the focus of Smart Growth America’s new partnership with that city. Photo via.

Communities large and small are looking for ways to create prosperity that everyone can participate in. Smart Growth America’s new Planning for Successful and Equitable Revitalization program is designed to help.

In partnership with PNC, this new addition to our technical assistance offerings will help communities revitalize successfully and capture benefits from the revitalization process for families of all income levels.

Technical assistance

Now Hiring: Technical Assistance Intern

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Smart Growth America is seeking a paid intern to support our technical assistance program and our workshops for state and local governments’ across the country.

The Intern will be an integral part of the team and will play a vital role in managing the day-to-day operations of our workshops for local communities around the country. The Intern will assist with our work in major urban areas as well as our growing presence in rural communities. Core responsibilities include: logistical and research support for workshops and policy summits, coordinating with workshop instructors and communities receiving workshops, authoring blogs, promoting our technical assistance through social networking, and providing administrative support to the team.

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Join us for the launch of "Amazing Place"

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For decades, if a community wanted to increase jobs, the go-to approach was to offer companies tax breaks and subsidies to relocate there.

This approach has lots of downsides. But perhaps the biggest problem for economic development officials now is that too often, this strategy simply doesn’t work.

Companies today are less interested in tax breaks and more interested in vibrant neighborhoods with affordable housing options, restaurants, nightlife, and other amenities in walking distance, and a range of transportation options for their employees.

If tax breaks were the old way to do economic development, creating great places is the new way.

On Tuesday, June 28, we’ll release Amazing Place, which details how six cities are using a place-based approach to economic development.

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Introducing "Foot Traffic Ahead 2016"

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There are 619 regionally significant, walkable urban places (or “WalkUPs”) in the nation’s 30 largest metro areas.

Foot Traffic Ahead 2016, released today by LOCUS in conjunction with the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at the George Washington University School of Business, looked at all of them.

The new report ranks the country’s 30 largest metropolitan areas based on the amount of commercial and multi-family rental development in WalkUPs, and uses a series of forward-looking metrics to predict how walkable their future development might be. The research also uses social equity metrics like housing costs, transportation costs, and access to jobs to understand the relationship between walkability and social equity.

The research found that walkable urban market share growth in office and multi-family rental increased in all 30 metro areas between 2010-2015, while drivable sub-urban locations have lost market share.

Not surprisingly, New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle ranked at the top of current areas for walkable urbanism. But the research points to other cities including Phoenix, Los Angeles, and metro Detroit as best-positioned for future growth of walkability given current efforts in those the communities.

Download the full report to see the full rankings, including which metros are getting the most out of their current development, which have the greatest momentum, and which rank the highest for social equity.

LOCUS

A new partnership between T4America and Sidewalk Labs

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Our Transportation for America program works with cities across the country to create transportation networks that support economic prosperity.

New technologies play an increasingly important role in this field and today we’re excited to announce a new partnership between Transportation for America and Sidewalk Labs to support cities in this important work.

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Join the 2016 LOCUS Leadership Summit for walking tours around Boston

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The 2016 LOCUS Leadership Summit will bring together smart growth real estate developers and investors from across the country in just less three weeks in Boston. The event will feature three walking tours around the Boston metropolitan area showcasing neighborhoods transformed by investments in infrastructure—and you’re invited to join us.

One Greenway
One Greenway restored the urban fabric and vibrancy of Chinatown’s Hudson Street neighborhood in downtown Boston after it was destroyed in the 1950’s. The mixed-use, sustainable housing development includes 363 units within walking distance of public transportation, neighborhood retail, and community space. Janelle Chan, Executive Director of the Asian Community Development Corporation, will lead this walking tour on June 14th at 2:00 PM.
Assembly Row 
With over 500,000 square feet of retail space, 2,100 residential units, and 1.75M square feet of office, Assembly Row is an urban mixed-use development designed to compliment the legacy of Boston. Don Briggs, Executive Vice President of Development at Federal Realty Investment Trust, will lead this tour on June 15th at 4:00 PM.
Union Square
In 2012, the redevelopment of Union Square, Somerville’s oldest commercial district, began with the Union Square Revitalization Plan. The first phase of the 20-year plan will produce new Green line transit stations at Union Square and Washington Street. Greg Karczewski, President of Union Square Station Associates, will lead this tour immediately following the Assembly Row tour.
LOCUS

Senate EPW Committee votes to reauthorize EPA’s Brownfields program

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The EPA Brownfields program helped to remediate a former railroad line in Greenville, SC. Today that line is the Swamp Rabbit Trail, the backbone of an extensive pedestrian and bicycling trail system in the county. Photo via Flickr.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields program has helped hundreds of communities clean up and redevelop vacant and contaminated land known as brownfields. The program has not been an official part of the federal budget for several years, however. Last week the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) voted to change that.

On May 18, the EPW Committee approved the Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development Act of 2015 (BUILD Act), which would reauthorize the EPA Brownfields program through 2018. Senator Jim Inhofe and Senator Edward Markey introduced the Act on June 2, 2015. Last week the bill passed on voice vote without amendment.

LOCUS

Announcing the winners of the 2016 LOCUS Leadership Awards

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For the past four 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 furthering our mission of advocating for sustainable, walkable urban development.

We received an unprecedented number of nominations this year, and our decision was no easy task. After careful consideration, we are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2016 LOCUS Leadership Awards.

LOCUS
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