By Steve Davis · December 4, 2009

The recession may have slowed growth in many places across the country, but the economic difficulties have only reaffirmed the need to be smarter than ever about what we build, and where we build it. Earlier this week, four municipalities from across the country were recognized by the US EPA for their innovative work in promoting smarter growth and creating places worth caring about.

EPA created the National Award for Smart Growth Achievement back in 2002 to recognize outstanding and innovative approaches to development that “respect the environment, foster economic vitality, and enhance quality of life.” Since 2002, the EPA Smart Growth office has received hundreds of applications from across the country for the award, and this year, EPA received 102 applications from 34 states for consideration.

On Tuesday, representatives from Chicago, Illinois; Charlotte, North Carolina; Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and Tempe, Arizona were joined by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson at the majestic National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., to be honored and recognized for their remarkable achievements.

“We are at a defining moment. American communities have spent a lot of time in the last decade growing and building, and not always in the smartest ways,” Administrator Jackson told the honorees in her remarks. She went on to point out that in difficult economic times, these four communities have proven what President Obama and other leaders have been saying about a bright future where we can use less energy — and still live in growing, prosperous, livable communities.

“We have a president who is willing to stand up and say we don’t have to choose between sustainable growth and our economy. It’s a false choice that we have to choose between a healthy environment and a healthy economy.”

One consistent theme among all four awardees was that completion of their project or plan was the culmination of years of hard work — decades in at least one case. As awardees noted in their remarks, there are far too many barriers standing in the way of doing these worthy projects. The playing field is tilted to make sprawling development much easier, forcing these leaders to follow an unnecessarily difficult path to bring their projects to fruition — and preventing the market from providing what people are demanding.

That’s something that needs to change. With Americans voting with their pocketbooks and preferences for more options for living in walkable, connected, people-centric communities, we need to help change the codes and rules that make these highly in-demand projects so hard to deliver.

Congratulations to these four communities for their innovative work. Read more about all four awardees from the EPA or NRDC’s Kaid Benfield, click on an image below, or follow the individual links below.