SGA’s research helps connect local, state and federal policies with their impacts on our economy, our neighborhoods, and our environment. Our reports give policymakers, businesses and local groups the tools they need to make the case for smart growth in their communities.
| Getting Back on Track: Climate Change and State Transportation Current transportation policies in almost all 50 states either fail to curb carbon emission rates or, in some cases, actually increase emissions. This contradiction between state policies and broader efforts to reduce carbon emissions means not only that many states are missing opportunities to protect clean air; it means they are missing economic opportunities as well. Click here to download Getting Back on Track: Climate Change and State Transportation Policy |
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| What We Learned from the Stimulus In 2009, Congress passed a $787 billion stimulus package with billions for transportation projects. Throughout 2009-10, we examined whether states were effectively addressing the enormous backlogs of road and bridge repairs and inadequate and underfunded public transportation systems. |
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| Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change Meeting the growing demand for conveniently located housing in walkable, accessible, compact neighborhoods could significantly reduce the growth in the number of miles Americans drive, shrinking the nation’s carbon footprint while giving people more housing choices. Click here to download the free executive summary from Growing Cooler |
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| Vacant Properties: The True Costs to Communities This report summarizes research on the costs vacant and abandoned properties impose upon communities. It also highlights local programs successfully recapturing the value in these properties. Click here to download Vacant Properties: The True Costs to Communities |
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| Endangered by Sprawl The rapid conversion of once-natural areas and farmland into subdivisions, shopping centers, roads and parking lots has become a leading threat to America’s native plants and animals. Endangered by Sprawl integrates widely accepted measures of development density and projections of population growth with a new analysis of the comprehensive data on rare and endangered species that is compiled by the NatureServe network of state natural heritage programs. |
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| Measuring the Health Effects of Sprawl This report presents the first national study to show a clear association between the type of place people live and their activity levels, weight, and health. Click here to download Measuring the Health Effects of Sprawl |
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| Measuring Sprawl and its Impact In this first-of-its-kind study, the product of three years of research, the authors define, measure and evaluate metropolitan sprawl and its impacts and create an impact based on four factors: residential density, neighborhood mix of uses, strength of activity centers and downtowns, and accessibility of the street network. |
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| Paving Our Way to Water Shortages This new study by American Rivers, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) and Smart Growth America investigated what happens to water supplies when we replace our natural areas with roads, parking lots and buildings. |
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