The How and Why of Measuring Access to Opportunity: A Guide to Performance Management is a brand new guidebook on the data, tools, and methodologies transportation officials need to measure access to opportunity, as well as how to integrate these measurements into their planning and investment decisions.
Access to jobs, education, healthcare, and other essential services may be regarded as the primary purpose of transportation. Not surprisingly, transportation agencies across the country are increasingly interested in considering this as a key part of measuring system performance. Unfortunately, many transportation practitioners are not sure how to measure how well their system links people … Continued
The Culture Trail of Indianapolis, IN—one of 19 communities to receive technical assistance from Smart Growth America in 2014. Photo via visitindy.com.
As we announced earlier this month, Smart Growth America is accepting applications for our 2015 free technical assistance workshops now through October 23. You’ve already seen how our 12 ready-to-go workshops are designed to help communities tackle local development challenges. But have you visited our Past Workshops page recently?
Our chronicle of past workshops is a great resource to see how local leaders and residents across the country have worked with Smart Growth America to develop the knowledge, tools, and strategies to make their communities more livable, sustainable and vibrant places through both our free technical assistance program and our fee-for-service workshops.
To date, our technical assistance program has provided workshops to over 50 urban, suburban, and rural communities in 34 states from Hawaii to Maine.Want to see how Tacoma, WA’s experience might help your community? How about Salisbury, MD or Des Moines, IA? You can find information about the context, content, and outcomes of each of our past workshops on the past workshops page.
This month, we’re looking back at some of Smart Growth America’s brightest moments and greatest accomplishments from 2013. Today’s highlight? Our July report that showed just how much smart growth strategies can benefit municipalities’ bottom lines.
Building Better Budgets: A National Examination of the Fiscal Benefits of Smart Growth Development set out to find how much cities and towns have saved, on average, by using smart growth strategies. The report collected 17 studies from cities across the country that compared two or more development scenarios. The majority of these studies found that a smart growth approach would improve the city’s finances, whether by saving money on upfront infrastructure, reducing the cost of ongoing services or by generating greater tax revenues in years to come.
Downtown Reno and the Truckee Meadows. Photo by Tonya Poole via Flickr.
In October Smart Growth America visited Reno, NV, to meet with residents and local officials there as part of a “Planning for Economic and Fiscal Health” technical assistance workshop.
The workshop aimed to lay the groundwork for the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency (TMRPA) to examine different development models for the region, with the ultimate goal of creating a regional plan for sustainable development.
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Cuyahoga County Courthouse Photograph courtesy OzinOH (via Flickr)[/caption]
Cuyahoga County officials and local residents met with representatives from Smart Growth America on May 1 and 2, 2013 as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program. The workshops aimed to give Cuyahoga County strategies to create a built environment that focuses on better and more accessible transportation options for all residents.
“Providing a multi-modal transportation network is a key component to Cuyahoga County’s guiding principles of designing a place-based development strategy. Under the leadership of County Executive Ed Fitzgerald, the County also recognizes the momentum of the City of Cleveland’s efforts to implement a Complete and Green Streets policy and embraces this opportunity to explore the concept of Complete Streets on the regional level,” said Glenn Coyne, Executive Director of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission.
Local residents and officials in Houston, TX met with representatives from Smart Growth America on April 17 and 18, 2013 as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program. The workshops aimed to give Houston the tools to develop a Complete Streets policy in their Museum Park Neighborhood, which will lay the foundation for future Complete Streets policies in other neighborhoods throughout the city.
“Museum Park, in partnership with the City of Houston’s Office of Sustainability anticipates that the Complete Streets workshop will take Houston a step closer to achieving a few of Mayor Parker’s stated goals for her second term, such as “sustainable development, public safety, infrastructure and quality of life,” said Kathleen O’Reilly, Vice President of the Museum Park Super Neighborhood. “Museum Park, with its mix of 14 museums, Hermann Park, 3,000 homes, schools, health care, churches and more offers the ideal mix to craft the highest standards for transit and quality of life in Houston. As we launch ReBuild Houston, the timing of this exciting collaborative effort couldn’t be better.”
Local residents and officials in Park Forest, IL met with representatives from Smart Growth America on April 18 and 19, 2013 as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program. The workshops aimed to give Park Forest the tools to assess the effectiveness and sustainability of its current land use codes and create strategies to carry its smart growth vision forward.
“We are very pleased to have the expertise of our friends from Smart Growth America as we review our ordinances and make sure they are up-to-date, especially in regards to sustainability,” said Mayor John A. Ostenburg.
Photo courtesy of Dougtone via Flickr
Officials and local residents in Campbell, NY met with representatives from Smart Growth America on April 24 and 25, 2013 as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program. The workshops gave Campbell the tools it needs to preserve its character, while creating strategies that allow the town to move toward a more sustainable future.
“The Town of Campbell feels very fortunate to have been selected for this technical assistance workshop,” said Town Supervisor David Tennent. “We’re eager to learn what Smart Growth America has to teach us regarding strategies for improving our zoning code and planning for sustainable growth in our town.”
Nicolette Barber, AICP, with Hunt Engineers, Architects & Land Surveyors, a consultant for the town and working closely with the technical assistance team said, “Campbell is a small town that would like to maintain and enhance its rural character. In planning for its future, the town is not looking to compete with the regional shopping centers or expand its population by leaps and bounds. Rather, what residents would like are more opportunities for local shopping, social events and recreation. To the extent that the Comprehensive Plan Committee could help promote that through smart growth strategies learned from Smart Growth America, they would like to do so.”
Photo courtesy of justinrummel via Flickr. Officials and local residents in Virginia Beach, VA met with representatives from Smart Growth America on April 24 and 25, 2013 as part of a free, grant-funded technical assistance program. The workshops provided the city with the tools needed to create and implement a citywide complete streets policy. “The … Continued