This month on Building Better Communities with Transit we chat with Colin Parent, Executive Director of Circulate San Diego, an advocacy organization that promotes public and active transportation in tandem with sustainable growth. As Colin notes, much of the renewed interest and support for transit and transit-oriented development is being driven by one thing: the housing crisis.
On November 21st we hosted “Promoting equitable change through creative placemaking & Complete Streets” the ninth installment of our monthly webinar series, Implementation & Equity 201: The Path Forward to Complete Streets. A recording of the webinar is now available above. You can also download the PDF of the presentation, or read the brief recap below.
Our next webinar, Promoting Equitable Change through Creative Placemaking & Complete Streets takes place on Tuesday, November 21st from 1:00-2:00 PM EDT.
A mixed-use development in San Diego, CA’s Little Italy. Image by Chris via Flickr.
If all goes according to plan, San Diego, CA will soon pass a Climate Action Plan full of ambitious goals for reducing emissions. Integral to the plan is a vision of smart growth: adopting more sustainable land use patterns, particularly through walkable mixed-use, transit-oriented development.
In advance of the plan’s passage, the City of San Diego suspected that its zoning code could be doing more to encourage sustainable development. So they brought in the experts.
On October 9, 2014, a technical assistance team from Smart Growth America and Clarion visited San Diego for a Sustainable Land Use Code Audit workshop. The instructors worked with stakeholders to review key portions of the zoning code to identify how they could better support the mixed-use and transit-oriented development envisioned by the City’s General Plan and made all the more urgent by the anticipated Climate Action Plan.
Community members plan the Village at Market Creek development. Image courtesy of the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation.
After extensive planning and dozens of community meetings, the Village at Market Creek in San Diego, CA, is ready to break ground on the next phase of a visionary smart growth project.
For two decades, San Diego has been working to remediate and redevelop the former home of aerospace manufacturer Langley Corp. The company left San Diego in the 1990s, but leaking underground storage tanks and other potentially hazardous materials on the numerous factory sites remained. That meant the 60 acres were not only blighted, but potentially dangerous to redevelop.
Investing in quality development and creating vibrant places where people want to live and work are among the themes at this year’s New Partners for Smart Growth conference in San Diego. Over 1,400 public officials, planners, developers and advocates are meeting this week to discuss better strategies for development – and the conference’s host city is a great example of that principle in action. From NBC San Diego:
“San Diego is investing in the right things,” said Ilana Preuss, vice president of Washington D.C.-based Smart Growth America. “Looking at how you create whole neighborhoods where people can live near where they work, have jobs near shops and schools. We’ve found that that’s really a key to the economic development of the 21st century.”
“Smart Growth” Experts Tout San Diego [NBC San Diego, February 2, 2012]
After celebrating its 10th anniversary last year in Charlotte, NC, the New Partners for Smart Growth conference begins its second decade back where it started in San Diego, CA. Sun, Surf, and Smart Growth: The 11th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference from February 2-4, 2012 will bring together participants and speakers who cross disciplines to share experiences and insights, and valuable tools and strategies to make smart growth strategies a reality.
Members of Smart Growth America’s knowledgeable staff will be among the many speakers at this year’s conference. Join us to learn about: Smart Growth for Clean Water; Infill Development Strategies for Small Cities; Achieving the Prosperity Benefits of Transit and Smart Growth; Not Your Father’s DOT: Progressive Trends in State Transportation Policy; Leveraging Smart Growth Solutions to Build Political Support; Area-wide Planning: Innovations at the State, Local, and Federal Level; Smart Valley Places — Taking Advantage of the Great Reset; Facing the Critics: Tools and Trainings to Successfully Counter Smart Growth Opponents; and Implementing Green Infrastructure: Creative Approaches to Reducing Regulatory and Financial Barriers in Rural and Urban Communities.