In the early days, there were only a handful of partners, but we did have a shared vision… and a lot of work ahead. At the time, smart growth wasn’t a widely understood concept. Complete Streets wasn’t a national movement. Housing, transportation, and land use were even more disconnected than they are today. Over the years, we found success thanks to that vision and the friends, partners, and local leaders who joined the movement for smarter, more connected communities.

Today, Smart Growth America is a unique organization that connects the dots across sectors—housing, transportation, climate, equity, and governance—translating them into a practical, bipartisan, and results-oriented agenda. And our ideas don’t just come from thinking big thoughts in Washington, DC. They come from rolling up our sleeves to work with leaders on the ground, trying to make transportation safer, housing more affordable, and communities more resilient and livable. We see trends and commonalities in successful strategies and common challenges from our work across the country, study them to better understand “why,” and then develop recommendations for impact and advocate for those changes.