Smart Growth America's Top 12 of 2012: Speaking nationally about smart growth


We’re doing a special blog series highlighting some of Smart Growth America’s favorite accomplishments from 2012. This is the eighth of twelve installments.

In 2012, we joined together with colleagues and allies to learn from one another and work together on our common goals.

At the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference, we talked about area-wide planning, the transportation debate in Congress, infill development in small cities, implementing Complete Streets, progressive trends in state transportation policy, how to turn transit-oriented development in to economic prosperity, and how to create political support for smart growth projects.

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Brownfields grants double their benefit with new health center trend

An architect’s rendering of the future Spectrum Health Services building. Image via Spectrum Health Services.

Cleaning up contaminated land – known to environmental regulators as “brownfields” – has a long list of health benefits as a result of cleaner air, water and soil. Now, a cleaned up brownfield site might fix your sprained ankle, too.

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Smart Growth America's Top 12 of 2012: Visiting towns and cities across the country

We’re doing a special blog series highlighting some of Smart Growth America’s favorite accomplishments from 2012. This is the seventh of twelve installments.

In 2012 Smart Growth America went to, worked with and spoke in dozens of towns across the country. It was great to meet the people in those places, and to learn how they’re using smart growth strategies to make their hometown better.

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Complete Streets winners, big and small

Downtown Lancaster, California. Photo courtesy of the City of Lancaster.

A Complete Streets approach helped Lancaster, California revitalize its commercial core and win the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement for Overall Excellence.

After decades of decline, the city’s downtown, centered on Lancaster Boulevard, had become home to rising crime and unemployment rates. Automobiles regularly travelled at speeds of 40 to 50 miles per hour, and many of the intersections were controlled by traffic signals. Residents believed that the street was dangerous to cross and unpleasant to walk and shop along.

Complete Streets

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.

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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.

Complete Streets

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.

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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.”

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