Smart Growth America's new report, Lessons from the Culture and Community Network: Integrating Arts and Culture into Regional Planning, is a comprehensive blueprint drawn from the experiences of nine metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) that spent six months exploring how creative strategies can make planning more accessible, equitable, and holistic.

Traditional approaches to public involvement consistently fail to engage the communities most impacted by infrastructure and planning decisions. These methods typically favor wealthier property owners with knowledge, access, and capacity to influence decision-making while excluding others, harming both the communities excluded from these processes and the quality of planning outcomes. New and different approaches are needed.

From April through October 2025, Smart Growth America convened the Culture and Community Network (CCN), bringing together staff from MPOs across the country. Through peer learning, structured reflection, and hands-on experimentation, participating agencies tested new approaches and creative methods rather than further navigation of opaque government processes.

Our new report documents both successes and challenges experienced through CCN. It addresses the pitfalls: agencies that focus on visual or temporary art production without examining systemic outcomes or reimagining internal procurement processes; organizations that articulate transformative values and goals while maintaining status quo cultures; and the risk of unilaterally imposing creative approaches rather than co-creating them with artists, cultural workers, and communities. This honest assessment makes the successes more meaningful and provides practical guidance for others beginning this work.

Three distinct pathways emerge. Some agencies start from scratch with small experiments. Others build on years of sporadic initiatives toward sustained integration. Established programs learn to expand from single grant initiatives to agency-wide transformation. The Atlanta Regional Commission's decade-long journey provides an in-depth case study, demonstrating how one MPO moved arts and culture work into core departments, began compensating community-based organizations for their expertise, and shifted from treating artists as vendors to engaging them as essential partners in the planning process.

The report's most significant insight: organizational size matters far less than organizational culture. A small MPO willing to challenge its own processes and embrace non-linear progress can achieve deeper transformation than a large agency with extensive resources but resistance to systems change. Meaningful integration requires moving beyond tactical demonstrations and visual interventions toward genuine co-design, transformed internal processes, and equitable systems change. The Culture and Community Network has demonstrated that MPOs don't have to navigate this work alone. Peer learning, tailored support, and structured reflection accelerate progress and sustain momentum when challenges arise.

This blueprint is designed for changemakers: MPO staff working in engagement, equity, or planning; executive directors and board members considering new approaches; arts and culture professionals interested in civic work; and funders looking to support innovation in regional transportation, land use, and infrastructure planning. The future of regional planning depends not only on data and engineering, but also on creativity, culture, and human connection. This report offers practical guidance for MPOs ready to lead that transformation.

Check out the full report!

Smart Growth America is exploring funding and support for future iterations of the Culture and Community Network. Organizations interested in joining a future cohort, or funders interested in supporting this work, can contact SGA’s Director of Arts and Culture Marian Liou at [email protected].