Issue Experts

Video: Dan Burden on creating walkable communities

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Smart Growth America’s Local Leaders Council sat down with Dan Burden, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute to learn about what makes for a “walkable” neighborhood and what communities can do to become more walkable.

“A walkable neighborhood is a right-scale neighborhood where you can walk, you have good street connectivity…streets that are reasonably quiet and peaceful, that relate to the people living there, shopping there, and enjoying their neighborhood,” says Burden.

Local Leaders Council

Video: Joe Minicozzi on the fiscal benefits of a revitalized Asheville, NC

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Many communities are coming to realize smart growth provides substantial economic benefits in addition to creating great neighborhoods. Smart Growth America’s Local Leaders Council recently sat down with Joseph Minicozzi, the principal of Urban3, LLC, a private consulting firm specializing in land value economics, property tax analysis and community design, to discuss how some communities are using smart growth strategies to their economic benefit.

Local Leaders Council

Jeff Aken on combining transfer of development rights with infrastructure financing in Washington

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Jeff Aken, former Communities Program Manager with Forterra – Seattle, WA, talks about an innovative program that combines Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) with infrastructure financing to help cities grow in a responsible manner. See more interviews with issue experts here >>

Local Leaders Council

Kim Billimoria on preserving business and beauty in Yellowstone

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The greater Yellowstone region stretches across Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, encompassing dozens of counties and mile after mile of unparalleled natural resources. Its stunning beauty attracts thousands of visitors every year and is the primary basis for economic development in the area. As a result, residents and tourists alike see significant value in preserving the environment and ensuring its existence for future generations.

That concern for the Yellowstone ecosystem as a vital community asset is the underlying principle of the Yellowstone Business Partnership.

“The Yellowstone business partnership is a non-profit organization that works at an eco-system level,” says the organization’s communications specialist Kim Billimoria. “It was founded by a group of business people that recognized that if we’re going to preserve the greater Yellowstone ecosystem – which is one of the largest last intact ecosystems in the entire world – we have to harness the power of business.”

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