Protected: Coalition Updates – 12/12/2012
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What are the top 10 small cities growing faster than their suburbs?
It might come as a surprise, but it’s not just big cities like New York and San Francisco that are experiencing a kind of downtown renaissance. In fact, according to a new analysis of Census data from Smart Growth America, that support for more walkable neighborhoods near jobs, shops and schools is increasing even in … Continued
Smart Growth America's Top 12 of 2012: Making news
CEO and President of Smart Growth America Geoff Anderson and Vice President & Director of Policy Development & Implementation Bill Fulton. Photo by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
We’re doing a special blog series highlighting some of Smart Growth America’s favorite accomplishments from 2012. This is the sixth of twelve installments.
In 2012, newspapers and media outlets from across the country reported on smart growth issues in ways they never had before. Here are some of the highlights:
Smart Growth’s Revival
San Diego Union-Tribune (CA) – February 13, 2012
‘Smart growth,” a planning concept popular since the 1990s, is gaining traction as the construction industry looks to a revival, say advocates of building housing, shops and workplaces near each other and transportation networks. But they acknowledge that neighborhoods still are leery of change.
Walkability increasingly drives developers and real estate market
Washington Post – November 16, 2012
“Walkable” is a feature sparking sales and energizing future development and redevelopment, according to a recent report by a George Washington University professor that calls the Washington area a national model for compact urban areas where residents can live and work without cars.
Smart Growth America's Top 12 of 2012: Growing our coalition
The Fairborn-CEMEX town plant redevelopment is one of hundreds of brownfield sites across the country. Photo by the Ohio Office of Redevelopment, via Flickr.
We’re doing a special blog series highlighting some of Smart Growth America’s favorite accomplishments from 2012. This is the fifth of twelve installments.
In 2012 Smart Growth America welcomed two major new programs to our advocacy work.
In February, we announced a new alliance with the National Brownfields Coalition. The National Brownfields Coalition, now a program of Smart Growth America, seeks to raise awareness about the economic benefits of transforming vacant brownfields into thriving neighborhoods. The Coalition brought with it expertise on federal policies that promote brownfield revitalization and sustainable development have helped us pursue public policies aimed at reinvigorating neighborhoods across the country.
Smart Growth America's Top 12 of 2012: Marking three years of a revolutionary program
The Partnership celebrates three years of work. Image via “Three Years of Helping Communities Achieve Their Visions for Growth and Prosperity.”
We’re doing a special blog series highlighting some of Smart Growth America’s favorite accomplishments from 2012. This is the fourth of twelve installments.
In July, we celebrated the three year anniversary of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, a groundbreaking collaboration between the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Where is America growing? The answer may surprise you.
Cities are growing faster than their suburbs for the first time in recent history, and this trend applies to the country’s biggest as well as some of its smallest.
New analysis of U.S. Census data from Smart Growth America reveals that cities in small metro areas are gaining population – and most are growing faster than their suburbs. This finding reflects population trends revealed earlier this year in research from the Brookings Institution, which examined growth rates the country’s 51 largest metropolitan areas. But whereas that report looked only at large metro areas like New York, San Francisco and Chicago, Smart Growth America’s research examines what’s happening in the nation’s slightly smaller – but no less important – metro areas.
The results are surprising.
“Small metro areas’ cities are doing just as well, if not better than, big cities,” says Smart Growth America President and CEO Geoffrey Anderson. “The trend in terms of population growth is toward city living, and that’s happening at a greater rate in our smaller metro areas and the middle of the country.”
Small places with big goals win national awards for smart growth achievement
Geoff Anderson, President and CEO of Smart Growth America (left) with representatives from seven communities honored with the 2012 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.
On Wednesday evening in a hearing room on Capitol Hill, the winners of this year’s National Award for Smart Growth Achievement gathered to discuss how their projects are helping their communities become better places to live and work.
The awards this year went to projects that have improved streets, redeveloped historic buildings, built new homes and stores in the heart of downtown, created better transportation choices and more. And though the projects are all very different from one another, none would have been possible without community support and collaboration.
“That’s the word of the day, partnerships,” said Kenneth Chandler, former City Manager of the City of Portsmouth, VA. Portsmouth’s comprehensive overhaul of the city’s development and land use regulations won it the Programs and Policies award. Portsmouth’s new codes are already creating a more livable and pedestrian-friendly city with opportunities for economic development and reinvestment.
Smart Growth America's Top 12 of 2012: Creating new reports and resources
Christopher Leinberger, President of LOCUS, presenting new research at George Washington University.
We’re doing a special blog series highlighting some of Smart Growth America’s favorite accomplishments from 2012. This is the third of twelve installments.
In the past year, Smart Growth America has conducted new research and created new resources for our allies in the field.
In March, we released From Vacancy to Vibrancy, a guide to redeveloping underground storage tank sites through area-wide planning. The guide provides an overview of the tools and strategies available to leaders who want to transform vacant properties with hazardous underground storage tanks into economic and community assets, setting the stage for redevelopment and revitalization of brownfields. This guide is a valuable tool for any town or city that is looking to redevelop their vacant brownfields and help their economies and communities thrive.
Business leaders tout new rail line as boost to Twin Cities' economic competitiveness at ULI, LOCUS MN event
The Hiawatha light rail line in downtown Minneapolis, MN is already popular. Photo by Matt Johnson via Flickr.
Leaders in the Twin Cities know that rail transit will be a key component of the cities’ future economic competitiveness, and they’re eager to catch-up with their regional peers in creating a comprehensive transit network.
Since opening in 2004, the Twin Cities’ only light rail line, the Hiawatha Line, has far ridership exceeded expectations. Construction has already begun on the region’s second line, the Central Corridor Line, which will connect downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul and is expected to be completed in 2014. Now, attention is shifting to the Twin Cities’ southwest corridor, home to large corporate office parks and wide highways, where the planned Southwest Corridor Light Rail Transit line has the potential to not only change how people get around, but also the shape of the region’s future development.
Smart Growth America's Top 12 of 2012: Helping governors support state economies
From left to right: Parris Glendening, President of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute and former governor of Maryland; Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey; James Lee Witt, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; and Tom Ridge, former governor of Pennsylvania.
We’re doing a special blog series highlighting some of Smart Growth America’s favorite accomplishments from 2012. This is the second of twelve installments.
In July, the Governors’ Institute on Community Design kicked off a new partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The announcement marked the beginning of a new, collaborative effort between the three agencies and the Institute, which was established in 2005 and is administered by Smart Growth America.