post

page

attachment

leader

knowledge-center

careers

award_snapshots

global_search_item

steering_committee

testimonial

field_6625732b605ae

field_66257321605ad

Rectangle 3934 (1)

Steering Committee

LOCUS Membership Options

<p>LOCUS members have a voice in state capitols and in Washington; opportunities to network with like-minded professionals; new ideas, resources, and learning opportunities through LOCUS’ policy resources and newsletters; and a platform to showcase their projects and enhance their commitment to triple-bottom-line development.</p>

COALITIONS

acf/standardherobanner

core/block

Individual

Leadership Circle

acf/navigationtabs2

IMG_8504 2

<p>Steering Committee memberships are available by nomination and are intended for individuals with significant experience in smart growth.</p>

acf/ourworkintro

field_66a36f5ad15df

Types of Membership

acf/sectiontable

<p><strong>$150 – Nonprofit or government developer:</strong> A Nonprofit organization delivering and/or managing housing, including community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and community development corporations, or real estate professionals in government agencies.</p>
<p><strong>$250 - Small-scale developer:</strong> A firm with a limited number of small-scale projects.</p>
<p><strong>$500 – Boutique developer: </strong>A small or mid-cap firm specializing in TOD, mixed-use, or urban infill, operating in a limited number of markets.</p>
<p><strong>$750 – Corporate developer: </strong>Regional, national, or international mid-cap or large firms, including REITs, delivering, owning, or operating real estate projects in a large number of markets.</p>

acf/richtextonly

Rectangle 4324

<p>For inquiries on Steering Committee membership or our Leadership Circle, please email us at <a href="mailto:locus@smartgrowthamerica.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link-card="true">locus@smartgrowthamerica.org.</a></p>

acf/coalitionscta

Become a member

core/paragraph

acf/coalitiontabssection

acf/overview

acf/textwithimage1

acf/sectionfourimageshighlight

acf/textwithbuttonandimage2

acf/newsslider

LOCUS

<p>Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


DSC05758

About us

<p>Throughout the year, we host a number of in-person and virtual events covering topics related to public health, social equity, and climate resilience.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


DSC05138

Events

Contact us

Subscribe

DONATE

<p>Find out how you can join the movement. </p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Get involved

Social Icons

Facebook

Social Icons (1)

<p>Smart growth is an approach to community design that connects housing, transportation, and land use to create healthy, prosperous, and resilient neighborhoods.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Learn about smart growth

<p>Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


DCIM102MEDIADJI_0180.JPG

Cover Letter

Resume

LUD Program Manager

Browse now

<p>We offer a library of case studies, videos, and reports to support policymakers, practitioners, and advocates interested in advancing smart growth.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


DSC03241

Knowledge hub

Our work

Impact

News & insights

Resources

View event schedule

SmartGrowth-News&Insights-Image05

DSC06844

Economic prosperity

Housing and development

Transportation and Complete Streets

Rural smart growth

Climate resilience

Overview

Arts & Culture

Center for Zoning Solutions

Complete Streets

National Brownfields Coalitions

Smart Growth Roundtable

Smart Growth Network (SGN)

State Smart Transportation Initiative

Transportation for America

Return to homepage

Rectangle 4345 (2)

Even the best-planned cities have a few hidden alleys.

Logo

Flint Hills

<p><strong>Through their participation in Smart Growth America’s Culture and Community Network, a group of planners from across the Flint Hills region in Kansas is taking small steps to build confidence and capacity over time for arts and culture and creativity in transportation planning and community engagement. Through low-risk experiments, such as hosting a trivia night, participating in a monthly arts event, or organizing a small-scale design competition, these colleagues are learning how creativity can reshape planning processes and set the stage for broader integration in future, large-scale projects.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107841" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-300x200.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-768x512.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Flint-Hills.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<h3>Key regional planning staff</h3>
<p>Flint Hills resident Janna Williams brings a background in landscape architecture and regional planning to her work with the Flint Hills Regional Council and Economic Development District. She views the current moment as an opportunity to pilot arts integration strategies that can later inform more ambitious regional planning efforts. Abigail Danner, Transportation Planner at the Flint Hills Metropolitan Planning Organization, and recent Kansas State University graduate from the landscape architecture program, is motivated by the belief that planning can be both functional and creative. She sees experimentation as a way to make engagement more approachable for younger families and underrepresented voices. Angela Schnee, City Planner for Ogden, has long been interested in bringing artistic elements into transportation projects. Her early attempt to spark a community-driven mural underscored the need to rethink how to lower barriers for participation.</p>
<h3>Arts and culture efforts</h3>
<p>The Flint Hills MPO is nearing the conclusion of its long-range transportation plan, Connect 2050, and, through the Culture and Community Network, has introduced creative activities into what is typically a very structured process. Instead of relying solely on open houses that usually attract a narrow demographic, they are testing:</p>
<ul>
<li>Trivia nights at local breweries, using transportation and local history themes to engage residents in a fun, low-pressure setting.</li>
<li>Participating in Third Thursdays in Manhattan, Kansas, a downtown arts event where planning activities like mental mapping and sketching exercises are woven into existing community celebrations.</li>
<li>Family-friendly engagement activities that make concepts accessible to children and open planning conversations to new constituents.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<p>Separately, the Regional Council is seeking to build off a successful cultural asset mapping project that identified more than 85 arts and cultural resources across the region. This mapping effort has become a foundation for future conversations about connecting arts to planning in ways that are community-driven.</p>
<h3>Challenges along the way</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Working across small agencies (the Flint Hills MPO has two employees) means that staff capacity is often stretched thin, and creative activities can feel like extra work on top of core planning responsibilities. Early efforts, such as a design competition for a community mural, revealed that participation doesn’t always come easily; agencies may need to tap into different networks, or build their own, while developing new processes, to reach potential partners. That said, a smaller agency can also mean more nimbleness and less bureaucratic processes to navigate, allowing for quicker decision-making and independence for greater experimentation and faster learning. These lessons have underscored the importance of starting small, testing formats, and iterating.</span></p>
<h3>Lessons learned</h3>
<p>The Flint Hills team’s participation in the Culture &amp; Community Network has reinforced the value of experimentation:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Creativity is a process, not a product.</strong> Engagement doesn’t need to result in a polished product or visual art to be meaningful. Creative activities like sketching or mapping, in a variety of nontraditional venues, can serve as entry points to help residents, particularly those who have rarely engaged in transportation or other planning processes share ideas.</li>
<li><strong>Informality matters.</strong> Trivia nights and arts festivals attract audiences that might never attend a traditional public meeting or town hall.</li>
<li><strong>Learning happens through peers</strong>. Exposure to practices in other cities and discussion with other CCN participants has given the team permission to try, fail, and adapt.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h3>Looking ahead</h3>
<p>The Flint Hills team is committed to carrying these lessons they’ve acquired through CCN into future planning efforts by:</p>
<ul>
<li>Introducing creative methods at the start of new plans rather than as end-stage add-ons.</li>
<li>Meeting quarterly and communicating regularly to share opportunities and coordinate experiments.</li>
<li>Exploring collaboration with the Kansas State University arts program and local arts groups to build momentum and capacity.</li>
<li>Using upcoming comprehensive plan updates as a testing ground for integrating arts more fully into regional planning.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<p>The key takeaway from Flint Hills is that creativity in planning does not require large budgets or a fully developed program from the outset. Small steps can spark imagination, broaden participation, and prepare the ground for arts and culture to be embedded more systematically in future, large-scale planning efforts.</p>


News

Culture and Community Network

How the Flint Hills region is learning by doing to integrate arts and culture in transportation planning and engagement

Arts and Culture

Metro

<p><strong>Metro, the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the greater Portland, Oregon region, is building on nearly a decade of work in community placemaking to more deeply integrate arts and culture into its planning practice. Through its Community Placemaking program and new agency-wide initiatives, Metro is demonstrating how creativity can support engagement, long-range visioning, and data justice. Smart Growth America’s Culture &amp; Community Network (CCN) has given staff both inspiration and structure to explore how arts and culture can grow from a single program at an MPO toward broader integration agency-wide.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-107821 size-large" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-1024x682.png" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-1024x682.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-300x200.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-768x512.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro-1536x1023.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Metro.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<h3>Background</h3>
<p>Principal planner and community placemaking grant manager Dana Lucero’s path to arts and culture at Metro began through her leadership of the Community Placemaking program. Transitioning from a role in transit, she saw an opportunity in 2017 to repurpose a dormant funding pool into a grant program that invested in human and social capital. Dana has long believed in the arts as a way to spark public interest in planning, and the program gave her the chance to put that belief into practice.</p>
<p>Senior public affairs specialist Lakeeyscia Griffin joined CCN through her connection with Dana, building on her own support for the placemaking program. As a photographer, musician, and videographer in her personal life, Lakeeyscia describes this work as a bridge between her creative passions and her role at Metro. For Lakeeyscia, being part of CCN was “a no-brainer,” an opportunity to link personal creativity with professional practice.</p>
<h3>Arts and culture efforts in planning and engagement</h3>
<p>The Community Placemaking program was first conceived in 2016 and launched its inaugural grant cycle in 2017 with $100,000 awarded to six organizations. What started small has grown steadily, fueled by strong ties to socially engaged artists and supported by Metro’s agency-wide equity strategy.</p>
<p>Through this program, Metro has moved beyond treating artists as vendors to engaging them as collaborators. Over the years, artists have led storytelling projects, community gatherings, and creative processes that reframe planning issues in accessible and meaningful ways.</p>
<p>As Metro’s planning, development, and research communications and engagement manager, Molly Cooney-Mesker was struck by how the Community Placemaking program has shifted the dynamics of participation. During one virtual meeting, a Community Placemaking program grantee told her directly: “this is what real community engagement is.” For Molly, that moment made it clear that Metro’s commitment to engagement must include placemaking and other creative practices that help communities address issues in their own way.</p>
<h3>Challenges along the way</h3>
<p>Metro’s arts and culture efforts have not been without hurdles.</p>
<ul>
<li>Ensuring geographic representation across the region can be a challenge. While most placemaking applications come from Portland, Metro must distribute resources region-wide.</li>
<li>Institutional processes can at times feel at odds with creativity, requiring staff to reconcile artistic and creative processes with the realities of structured, time-bound grantmaking and contracting.</li>
<li>Accommodating capacity limitations and acknowledging imperfect processes are ongoing challenges. Recognizing that mistakes will be made, staff are committed and accountable to learning and improving continuously with each cycle or project.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<p>As Lakeeyscia describes it, “these structures may feel diametrically opposed to the cultivation of arts, but they’re necessary so that when artists come in, they can do what they’re here to do.”</p>
<h3>Lessons learned</h3>
<p>Participation in CCN has reinforced several lessons for the Metro team:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Start where the soil is fertile</strong>. Echoing City of Seattle Director of Arts and Culture Gülgün Kayim’s advice during the CCN convening, focus first on staff who identify as having a creative practice or are already eager to engage with arts and culture.</li>
<li><strong>Meaningful work is the baseline.</strong> Contracting and program structures must prioritize a purposeful, not transactional, experience for artists.</li>
<li><strong>Learning is ongoing.</strong> Each grant cycle, project, or experiment integrating arts and culture should build in reflection and adaptation.</li>
<li><strong>Be intentional about dedicating space for the work.</strong> Carving out time and permission to think creatively is essential in an environment where work responsibilities can occasionally feel overwhelming.</li>
<li><strong>CCN provided needed support for internal casemaking.</strong> The team also values the national perspective and network provided by CCN. Examples from other MPOs and regional planning agencies such as Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, and the Twin Cities offer evidence that strengthens Metro’s internal case for integrating arts and culture into planning practices.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>Looking ahead</h4>
<p>Bolstered by their participation in CCN, Metro is building on its Community Placemaking program to weave arts and culture into larger regional initiatives. In the Future Vision process—an 18-month, 50-year regional visioning effort—Metro has begun intentionally centering artists and culture-bearers. Staff have already interviewed local artists and are working with Subashini Ganesan-Forbes, a cultural leader and former Creative Laureate of the City of Portland, to design ways for artists to help guide Future Vision. Separately, Metro staff working on Safe Streets for All are exploring how arts can expand the concept of “data justice” by elevating qualitative stories and lived experiences alongside technical datasets. Additionally, the team is exploring the creation of an arts and culture cohort of internal staff who have a creative practice or who are interested in the arts and cultural strategies. The intention is for this group to meet regularly, hear from artists, and pilot small-scale experiments.</p>
<p>Metro’s story illustrates how a regional agency can move beyond a discrete grant program toward embedding arts and culture into many aspects of planning practice. By starting small and establishing a strong, proven foundation, learning from peers, and aligning with broader agency priorities, Metro is showing how creativity can expand the possibilities of regional planning.</p>


From placemaking to future vision: How Metro is expanding arts and culture in regional planning in the Portland region

Screenshot 2025-10-15 at 9.44.56 AM

<p><strong>We’re short <a href="https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-deficit-35317/">4.7 million homes.</a> Our approach to housing aims to build more homes in the right places at the right price so that everyone can live in a community that supports them at every stage of life.</strong></p>
<p><strong>But what do we mean by the right place? In this series of explainer blogs, we’re taking a closer look at how, in addition to focusing on supply, smart growth strategies on <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-housing-we-stopped-building-and-why-we-need-it-now/">type</a>, place, and <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-price-isnt-right-why-getting-housing-costs-under-control-matters/">price</a> are essential to solving the housing crisis and creating the types of homes and communities that allow people to stay, grow, and thrive.</strong></p>
<h3>We&#8217;ve been building in the wrong places for too long</h3>
<p>For decades, land use policies have shaped the way our neighborhoods look and feel, determining where we can build new homes, what types we can build, and how they can look. In many places, these policies have focused on building more sprawling subdivisions on the urban fringe, with communities expanding outwards onto natural and agricultural lands.</p>
<p>But this approach has drawbacks. Building on the edges drives up costs for governments and households, all while not meeting demand for where many people actually want to live. Instead, communities should focus on building homes in connected, convenient, and climate-safe locations, close to jobs, schools, and daily needs. In doing so, they can:</p>
<p><strong>1. Meet the demand for walkable, connected communities</strong></p>
<p>Our <a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Foot-Traffic-Ahead-2023.pdf">Foot Traffic Ahead</a> report found significant price premiums for homes in walkable places like main streets, indicating significant unmet demand for more homes in these areas. In other words, more people want to live in walkable areas, but because we limit the building of housing there, there aren’t enough homes for everyone. This pushes prices up, limiting the number of folks who can afford to live there. The current rules, for example, restrict walkable development to just 1.2 percent of the land area of the U.S.’s largest metropolitan areas.</p>
<p><strong>2. Provide people with more options for how they get around</strong></p>
<p>When homes are far away from our daily needs, it is challenging for those without easy access to a car and the ability to drive to access jobs, schools, grocery stores, and other necessities. This means many people have to dedicate significant amounts of income to car ownership and other expenses, like gas, parking, tolls, and maintenance, while also spending much of their time traveling to their destinations. On top of that, with an average of 20 pedestrians killed each day in 2022, as found in our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/signature-reports/dangerous-by-design/">Dangerous by Design report</a>, building on the edge isolates many to their homes—or forces them to risk their health and safety.</p>
<p><strong>3. Allocate limited resources more efficiently and make better use of underutilized land &amp; existing infrastructure</strong></p>
<p>When development occurs on the edge of communities, more roads, pipes, wires, and other infrastructure must be built and maintained. Our <a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Rationale-for-Smart-Growth-Fiscal-Impact-Analysis-and-Model-Fiscal-Impact-Assessment-Ordinance_2023.pdf">Smart Growth Fiscal Impact Analysis</a> found that local governments can use their budgets more effectively by focusing development on vacant or underutilized lots within communities, taking advantage of existing infrastructure, and serving more people with fewer expenses.</p>
<p><strong>4. Build new homes outside hazard zones</strong></p>
<p>As communities expand into wetlands, forests, farms, and other natural and agricultural lands, more people are <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/an-expanding-bulls-eye-how-sprawl-puts-people-in-natural-hazard-zones-and-how-smart-growth-can-help/">put in the path of hazards</a> like floods, wildfires, or hurricanes. This increases risk to lives and property and increases costs to make upgrades and, if disaster strikes, recovery.</p>
<h3>How we lead this work</h3>
<p>To build in the right places and support vibrant communities, our land use policies need to change. Smart Growth America supports efforts to reform outdated rules, rethink land availability, and identify and improve financing tools, with the goal of building more housing in the right places.</p>
<p>Our work on land use policies focuses on:</p>
<p><strong>1. Promoting infill development</strong></p>
<p>Many underutilized or vacant lots are owned by public entities (like local governments and educational institutions), faith-based groups (like churches), and large employers (like those with commercial or office parks). Reformed land use policies, as well as incentives for public-private partnerships and development of underutilized sites, can support the conversion of these high-potential sites to housing, helping meet community needs and generating better value for the taxpayer or investor.</p>
<p>Infill development focuses on building housing on underutilized or vacant lots within existing neighborhoods. By building here, communities can take advantage of existing infrastructure, invest in their neighborhoods, and strengthen the urban fabric. With infill, more people have easy access to amenities like job centers and diverse retail environments, providing more economic opportunities and a better sense of community.</p>
<p><strong>2. Supporting transit-oriented development (TOD)</strong></p>
<p>Transit-oriented development brings increased density and a mix of uses (homes, businesses, etc.) in areas with public transit, like buses, streetcars, or subways. This means more key destinations are close to public transit, allowing more people to reach their jobs, schools, grocery stores, and other daily needs without needing to own a car. TOD also supports communities with constrained budgets; since transportation infrastructure often requires significant public investments, unlocking more development around transit and boosting transit ridership provides a greater return on investment.</p>
<p>TOD can take place through both public and private development. State laws, like <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/with-sb-79-california-makes-transit-oriented-development-law/">California’s SB 79</a>, for example, change zoning codes to allow more development around some of the state’s metro, light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit systems, while also allowing public transit agencies to directly pursue development on land they own.</p>
<p><strong>3. Redeveloping brownfields</strong></p>
<p>Brownfields—former industrial or otherwise contaminated sites—were often major employment centers and are often well-served by existing infrastructure and located within existing neighborhoods and communities. However, they can also pose public health and environmental risks. Floods or wildfires can spread contaminants from these sites (heavy metals, oil residue, and other industrial chemicals) into surrounding homes, waterways, and public spaces.</p>
<p>Equitable and sustainable redevelopment of brownfields allows for the cleanup of these sites, removing or neutralizing the contaminants so that they no longer pose health risks, and reusing this land for housing or community amenities. By redeveloping brownfields, communities can make use of existing infrastructure, support community prosperity, and alleviate risks to public health. Our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/national-brownfields-coalition/">National Brownfields Coalition</a> advocates for federal policies to support brownfield remediation and redevelopment.</p>
<p><strong>4. Building climate resilience</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By building in areas with lower risks of climate hazards, like floods and wildfires, communities can lower household and governmental costs of building resilient homes and infrastructure. To do this, communities can incorporate both present and future climate concerns into their land use policies.</span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/zoning-for-climate/">Climate-informed zoning,</a> for example, can help direct new development away from areas prone to hazards by providing density bonuses in locations more likely to be safe for the long term. Planning for future climate impacts can also mean fortifying or investing in infrastructure in hazard-prone areas with significant existing development, a problem faced by many coastal or riverine cities. The market need for additional safe, climate-resilient development is especially likely to impact <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/housing-for-havens/">climate havens</a>, where there is relatively lower climate risk.</p>
<h3>What work we’ve done on place in the past</h3>
<p>Smart Growth America works with communities across the U.S. to help ensure we’re addressing the nation’s housing shortage by building more housing in the right places. We provide direct support to local governments and community-based organizations, advocate for reformed land use policies and financing arrangements, and conduct research and thought leadership on emerging trends.</p>
<p>Our recent work has included:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/designation-2050-vermont-state-designation-program-evaluation-and-reform/">Vermont State Designation Program Evaluation and Reform</a></strong>: SGA led this state-level advisory project, which led to adoption in state law less than one year later. Work focused on how a state program could direct more housing into town and village centers and reduce development’s vulnerability to climate impacts, especially flooding in historic riverfront towns.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/north-end-equitable-development-strategy-needs/"><strong>North End Equitable Development Strategy (NEEDS)</strong></a>: SGA supported a group of residents from the North End of Newport, Rhode Island, to advocate for housing affordability in their neighborhood, leading to the adoption of local zoning amendments.</li>
<li><strong><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/the-case-for-climate-informed-zoning-a-study-of-fiscal-impact-in-norfolk-va/">The Case for Climate-Informed Zoning: A Study of Fiscal Impact in Norfolk, VA:</a></strong> Together with the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, SGA studied the economic impacts of Norfolk’s climate-informed land use policy, including an analysis of impacts on property values and on the city’s annual budget.</li>
</ul>


housing place

Zoning Reform

Why place matters when building housing

Land Use and Development

Zoning

Lever 2-4 ADU City of Oakland CA Secondary-Unit-Picture

<p><strong>We’re short <a href="https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-deficit-35317/">4.7 million homes</a>. Our approach to housing aims to build more homes in the right places at the right price so that everyone can live in a community that supports them at every stage of life.</strong></p>
<p><strong>And when we say more housing, we mean more types of homes. In this series of explainer blogs, we’re taking a closer look at how, in addition to focusing on supply, smart growth strategies on type, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/why-place-matters-when-building-housing/">place</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-price-isnt-right-why-getting-housing-costs-under-control-matters/">price</a> are essential to solving the housing crisis and creating the types of homes and communities that allow people to stay, grow, and thrive.</strong></p>
<h3>Why focusing on housing type is part of the solution</h3>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-107801 alignleft" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1-279x300.jpg" alt="" width="279" height="300" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1-279x300.jpg 279w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1-952x1024.jpg 952w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1-768x826.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/type-image-1.avif 1116w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 279px) 100vw, 279px" />Most people think of housing as either a house or an apartment—but there are so many types of housing in between, and phases in our lives that we need them. Especially at a time when housing is so expensive, being able to choose the type of housing you live in is more important than ever. Young families are looking to stay in their hometown, close to grandparents and siblings, but “starter homes” are out of reach. A townhouse or larger apartment would be a better option, but only a few exist. A retired couple would like to stay in their home, but there is just too much space, and their tax bill is rising. Converting their basement into an apartment would be a huge help and offer a place to call home for a graduate student at the nearby college.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unfortunately, outdated rules continue to make it difficult to build anything other than single-family homes on large lots in most neighborhoods. To address the housing crisis, we need more choices in the types and sizes of homes in more places and at a range of price points. We should be growing our communities in ways that make them work for more people and strengthen the economy. That means building a wider variety of housing options that meet the needs of diverse households. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Without these options, more of these single-family homes on larger lots keep getting built, and they’re being built further from jobs and other regular destinations. Because of the current system, we’re reducing options. This means that people are being left with no choice but to spend more on housing, spend more time commuting, leaving their needs unmet.</span></p>
<h3>So, what types of housing should we be encouraging?</h3>
<p>When people say that we should get rid of single-family only housing, they don’t mean that we should simply do away with these homes. We do mean that we should allow for more diversity of housing at different sizes, price points, and configurations, so people can find a home in places that best meet their needs. There are many types of housing that fall in between the classic single-family home and the high-rise apartment buildings of big cities. These types are often smaller-scale and often blend into existing neighborhoods. They can also fill in the underutilized spaces within communities or simply be built differently to more quickly and efficiently provide the homes we desperately need. A few key types include:</p>
<h4>1. Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li><strong>What they are</strong>: Backyard cottages, garage apartments, basement units—a range of small homes that share a lot with a main house. Take a walk around your community; there are probably great examples of existing and historic ADUs.</li>
<li><strong>Why they matter:</strong> These smaller units generally rent for lower prices due to the smaller square footage. This makes them great for aging parents, grown kids, caregivers, single people, those just starting out in a career—or just helping homeowners afford their mortgage by having an additional space that can be rented out to generate income.</li>
<li><strong>Example:</strong> California made ADUs legal statewide and has seen a <a href="https://napasonomaadu.org/adu-101/">surge in new units.</a></li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>2. Missing Middle Housing</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><b>What it is:</b><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Duplexes, fourplexes, courtyard apartments, cottage clusters—smaller homes that fit into walkable neighborhoods.</span></li>
<li><strong>Why it matters:</strong> These homes are more affordable, use less land, and blend into existing neighborhoods.</li>
<li><strong>Example:</strong> <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/lcd/UP/Documents/HB2001OverviewPublic.pdf">Oregon’s HB 2001</a> legalized <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/lcd/Housing/Pages/Choice.aspx">middle housing</a> across most cities in the state.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>3. Tiny Houses &amp; Cottage Courts</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li><strong>What they are:</strong> Standalone homes that are <a href="https://planning.org/foresight/trend/9309704/">generally</a> between 400-to 1,000 sq ft—think super-compact but livable.</li>
<li><strong>Why they matter:</strong> They’re low-cost, quick to build, and can add density without big buildings.</li>
<li><strong>Example</strong>: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9VarDLpbJw">Dover, NH</a> built a whole village of tiny homes for transitional housing.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>4. Manufactured + Off-Site Built Housing</h4>
<ul>
<li><strong>What they are:</strong> <a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal//portal/sites/default/files/pdf/An-Exploratory-Study-of-Factory-Built-Homes-and-Their-Implications-for-Affordability-Final-Report.pdf">Factory-built homes</a> that get delivered to a lot and anchored in place.</li>
<li><strong>Why they matter:</strong> They&#8217;re usually faster and cheaper to build than site-built housing since they are built in a factory.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>5. Single Room Occupancy + Office-to-Housing Conversions</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li><strong>What they are</strong>: Single-room occupancy units (with shared kitchens/baths) and converted office buildings.</li>
<li><strong>Why they matter:</strong> These are some of the fastest and cheapest ways to create deeply affordable housing, especially when retrofitting existing underutilized buildings.</li>
<li><strong>Forward-thinking</strong>: Office conversions are <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/understanding-office-to-residential-conversion/">still catching on</a>—but with the right zoning, they could help big time.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<h4>6. Reusing underutilized space for housing</h4>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<ul>
<li><strong>What it is:</strong> Turning underused malls, parking lots, or big-box store sites into new housing.</li>
<li><strong>Why it matters:</strong> These places already have roads, utilities, and jobs nearby—we just need to let housing in.</li>
<li><strong>Example:</strong> <a href="https://formbasedcodes.org/codes/east-billings-urban-renewal-district-code/">East Billings, MT</a> used a form-based code to revitalize an industrial area into mixed-use housing.</li>
</ul>
<h3>How we’ll do this work</h3>
<p>To meet the demand for more and different types of housing, communities must reform their outdated rules that limit what can be built. For example, most zoning codes in suburban areas don’t allow mixed-use, multifamily, or anything but single-family homes and sprawling car-centric development. Even more common are requirements like the number of parking spaces, how far homes must be set back from the road, and outright bans on different types of housing. The result is that even when townhomes or a ‘granny flat’ might seem possible, there are additional hoops to jump through—complex rules and processes to follow that add delays and costs. For example, duplexes might be permitted, but only with a special exception. Or, mixed-use buildings may technically be allowed but not explicitly defined, leading to requirements for additional parking spaces that make the project prohibitively expensive. These barriers too often prevent new housing from being built, or make it so expensive that it fails to create units that are affordable to those who need them most.</p>
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><b>Type of Housing</b></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><b>Zoning barrier</b></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><b>Solution</b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Requirements for extra parking or owner occupancy;  Unnecessary regulatory hoops or flat-out bans</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Allow ADUs by right in every residential neighborhood, remove parking and owner-occupancy requirements</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Missing Middle Housing</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Usually banned in single-family zones or allowed only with special approval</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Legalize middle housing by right and shift toward form-based standards</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Tiny Houses &amp; Cottage Courts</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Most cities don’t know how to allow them—too small or don’t align with standard zoning</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Create zoning categories that recognize small-lot and tiny home development and allow Tiny Houses by right</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Manufactured + Off-Site Built Housing</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Often excluded from residential zones or subject to stricter design rules</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Treat manufactured homes like any other home—especially in areas where affordability is the goal</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Single Room Occupancy  + Office-to-Housing Conversions</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Minimum unit sizes, parking requirements, or outright bans on shared housing</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Allow smaller units and shared living by right in commercial/mixed-use zones</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 22.6655%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Transforming Suburbia</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 36.8421%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Most suburban zoning codes don’t allow mixed-use, multifamily, or anything but car-centric development</span></p>
</td>
<td style="width: 39.6435%;">
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Use form-based overlays to allow housing and walkable design in these areas</span></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<h3>What work we’ve done on type in the past</h3>
<p>Smart Growth America works with communities across the U.S. to help ensure we’re addressing the nation’s housing shortage by building more types of housing. We provide direct support to local governments and community-based organizations, advocate for reformed land use policies and financing arrangements, and conduct research and thought leadership on emerging trends.</p>
<p>Our recent work has included:</p>
<ul>
<li>Demonstrating that housing in walkable places is in higher demand, and those places tend to offer more types of housing in our<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/foot-traffic-ahead-2023/"> Foot Traffic Ahead 2023 report.</a></li>
<li>A series on parking minimums—how they are a <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/parking-minimums-are-a-barrier-to-housing-development/">barrier to housing developmen</a>t, and <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/so-your-community-has-too-much-parking-what-can-you-do-about-it/">what can be done to change it.</a></li>
<li>Explaining the connection between smart growth and the<a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/smart-growth-the-abundance-we-need/"> abundance movement.</a></li>
<li>Sharing powerful policy change on <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/arlington-and-missing-middle-housing-hear-from-key-pro-housing-parties/">missing middle housing</a> at the local level.</li>
</ul>


housing type

The housing we stopped building — and why we need it now

Economic development

50867432046_dd59de8d67_o

<p><strong>We’re short <a href="https://www.zillow.com/research/housing-deficit-35317/">4.7 million homes</a>. Our approach to housing aims to build more homes in the right places at the right price so that everyone can live in a community that supports them at every stage of life.</strong></p>
<p><strong>But what do we mean by the right price? In this series of explainer blogs, we’re taking a closer look at how, in addition to focusing on supply, smart growth strategies on <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/the-housing-we-stopped-building-and-why-we-need-it-now/">type</a>, <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/why-place-matters-when-building-housing/">place</a>, and price are essential to solving the housing crisis and creating the types of homes and communities that allow people to stay, grow, and thrive.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107794" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-300x200.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-768x512.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/53803736512_4734cd613f_o-2048x1366.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<p>The obvious point about housing is that price matters a lot. It is the single biggest expense for most households, and for many, the biggest constraint on where they can live. Yet price remains one of the least understood parts of our housing system. Too often, it is treated as a natural outcome of “the market” rather than something shaped by policy, finance, and planning choices.</p>
<p>And unlike bidding the lowest price without going over, the price of housing often isn’t right, Bob (or Drew for you younger folks). For millions of families, the numbers simply do not add up: rents climb faster than paychecks, homeownership drifts out of reach, and entire communities struggle under the weight of housing costs.</p>
<p>If we are serious about solving the housing crisis, we have to start here. It is where zoning rules, financing tools, land costs, and household budgets all converge, resulting in real impacts on everyone’s daily life. Understanding how pricing works and how we can influence it is essential if we want to create more homes in the right places at prices people can actually afford.</p>
<h3>What we mean when we talk about price</h3>
<p>When we talk about housing prices, we are talking about more than a listing number on Zillow or the rent posted on a flyer. For renters, price means monthly rent plus utilities, parking, fees, and the costs of time and transportation to simply get to work, school, or groceries from that home. For homeowners, it includes mortgage payments, property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and interest rates that can double or halve purchasing power. Right now, <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/renter-households-cost-burdened-race.html">nearly half of all renters</a> and more than one in four homeowners are cost-burdened, meaning that they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.</p>
<p>In communities, price shows up in the fiscal costs of extending infrastructure like roads, sewers, or pipes to developments miles from existing services. However, unlike the prices of groceries or gas, housing costs do not fluctuate simply with global markets. They are largely the product of local decisions: what we allow to be built, where we allow it, and how we finance it.</p>
<h3>Our struggle with simple supply and demand</h3>
<p>Housing price is a reflection of supply and demand, but with a unique twist: land constraints, location dynamics, and a market with substantial policy interventions from every level of government.</p>
<p>On the demand side, we know that more people want to live <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/3205821178?pq-origsite=gscholar&amp;fromopenview=true">near jobs</a>, schools, amenities, and transit. Walkable, connected neighborhoods command a premium because they save time, reduce car dependence, and support quality of life. SGA’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-center/foot-traffic-ahead-2023/">Foot Traffic Ahead</a> report shows that walkable urban places generate outsized economic activity and higher real estate values. People are not irrational for paying more to live in them; they are paying for convenience, connection, and <a href="https://www.opportunityatlas.org/">opportunity.</a></p>
<p>On the supply side, decades of restrictive zoning, lengthy permitting processes, and unpredictable approval systems have made it harder to produce housing efficiently. As our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/">Center for Zoning Solutions</a> discusses, many local codes still ban or discourage multifamily buildings, small lot homes, or accessory dwelling units, artificially constraining the number of homes in the places people most want to live.</p>
<p>The clear imbalance between rising demand and restricted supply is the fundamental driver of high housing costs. Add the limitations on the types of homes available and where they’re located, and prices climb higher or sprawl continues. When insufficient supply becomes a feature of the market, prices can and will only go one way—up. Without getting too academic, these are forces already discussed at length by the <a href="https://michael-k-goff.github.io/2024-11-02-sum/">Standard Urban Model</a> of economics (price increases with centrality), and the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1830947">Amenity Mode</a>l (aka the Spatial Equilibrium Model, where price increases with local amenities). While this may come as no surprise to those in the weeds of the affordability crisis, these points are relevant to anyone who cares about housing costs.</p>
<p>Financing and macroeconomics matter too. Historically low interest rates in the 2010s boosted purchasing power and <a href="https://www.fhfa.gov/document/wp2204.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">helped fuel price spikes.</a> Investor activity—and therefore,<a href="https://nationalmortgageprofessional.com/news/investors-hold-most-empty-houses"> vacant homes</a>—and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10511482.2019.1681016">short-term rentals</a> have tightened markets further in certain cities. Then, as interest rates rose again in recent years, monthly costs soared even when nominal home prices leveled off. More owners are deciding to keep their homes with <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/09/29/homeowners-locked-into-low-mortgage-rates-hesitate-to-sell">low-interest-rate mortgages</a> rather than moving to a place that better suits their needs, but with higher interest rates. The result? A further reduction in the supply of units on the market, influencing both the for-sale housing market and rents (the two are linked). These trends show that housing affordability is not just a planning issue but a structural economic one.</p>
<p>
To recap, <strong>there is a tangle of structural and policy choices that make homes more expensive than they need to be.</strong> Restrictive zoning limits where and what can be built, keeping land scarce and prices high. Building on the edges instead of within existing neighborhoods forces cities to extend infrastructure farther and maintain it longer, with costs that ultimately fall on households while depriving them of popularly-demanded housing options. Material and labor shortages, coupled with long permitting timelines and complex financing requirements, make new housing harder and more expensive to deliver. Vacant land, underutilized <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/new-paper-unlocking-the-potential-of-public-lands-in-richmond-virginia/">public properties</a> and <a href="https://ggwash.org/view/68318/why-is-that-house-or-storefront-vacant">commercial properties,</a> and tax systems that discourage reinvestment further compound the problem. None of this is inevitable. It is all the outcome of decisions made decades ago, and others reaffirmed every time a community chooses scarcity over abundance.</p>
<h3>How we can address the price problem</h3>
<p>How we can address the price problem</p>
<p>Some of the most effective price interventions begin with reforming outdated rules, allowing the market to respond to demand (a theme that our Center for Zoning Solutions consistently helps communities with). Allowing a broader range of housing types like small multifamily buildings, accessory units, and missing middle options can lower per-unit land costs and expand choices for households at different income levels. Streamlined, predictable approval processes reduce the uncertainty that drives up financing costs. Eliminating unnecessary requirements, like excessive parking mandates, can save tens of thousands of dollars per unit.</p>
<p>Beyond rules, rethinking land and financing is equally important. Redeveloping publicly owned or underutilized land for mixed-income housing leverages existing infrastructure and lowers the public cost of new development. Infill and transit-oriented projects allow more people to live near the jobs and amenities that drive demand in the first place. Innovative financing, whether through low-interest federal tools, state housing funds, or revolving acquisition loans, helps mission-driven and smaller developers compete in a system often tilted toward the largest players.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At the same time, targeted affordability tools such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC), housing vouchers, and inclusionary zoning remain essential for reaching households that the market alone will not serve. These programs bridge the gap between wages and rents while encouraging long-term affordability through shared-equity models, community land trusts, and preservation of naturally affordable homes.</span></p>
<p>Taken together, these approaches illustrate how SGA’s work across Type, Place, and Price converges: better rules create more housing types, efficient land use ensures the places we build make sense for people and the planet, and sound financial and policy tools help bring prices back within reach.</p>
<h3>Bringing price into balance</h3>
<p>When prices are out of balance, everything else is, too. Workers are forced to move farther from jobs, families spend more of their income on transportation, and communities lose the diversity that makes them vibrant. But when prices stabilize, opportunity expands. Employers can <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/core-values-why-american-companies-are-moving-downtown/">attract talent,</a> <a href="https://states.aarp.org/hawaii/new-aarp-study-on-affordable-housing-looks-at-expiration-dates-for-federal-state-funding">seniors can age in place,</a> and young people can envision a future in their hometowns. Lower housing costs not only strengthen individual households but also strengthen the economic fabric of entire regions.</p>
<p><strong>SGA’s approach here is simple but ambitious: more homes, at prices people can afford, in places that make sense for people at every stage of life</strong>. Price is the thread that connects our housing goals to our broader mission of equitable, sustainable growth. Addressing it means confronting the policies and assumptions that have made scarcity our default. It means recognizing that affordability is not a mystery of the market but a reflection of the rules we set and the investments we make.</p>
<p>Right now, when it comes to housing, the price isn’t right, and it has not been for a long time. Unlike the TV show, there is no big wheel to spin or lucky guess to make this better. Addressing the housing crisis takes intentional policy, smarter planning, and a commitment to abundance over scarcity.</p>
<p>And if we can do that, then maybe everyone wins something far better than a vacation to Cabo: a stable home, a thriving neighborhood, and a fair shot at living where opportunity lives too.</p>


housing price

The price isn’t right: Why getting housing costs under control matters

MTC-ABAG

<p><strong>In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments (MTC-ABAG) are jointly responsible for planning for one of the most diverse and dynamic regions in the country. With enormous pressure to deliver on transportation, housing, climate, and economic development goals, staff are finding that arts and culture can bring both new strategies and new ways of thinking to the table.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107783" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-1024x682.png" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-1024x682.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-300x200.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-768x512.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG-1536x1023.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/MTC-ABAG.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<h3>Arts and culture efforts in planning, power-building, and engagement</h3>
<p>Staff see enormous potential for arts and culture as an approach and means for regional transformation, particularly in long-range planning processes like Plan Bay Area 2060, the region’s next comprehensive, 30-year plan. Veronica Cummings, the Principal Public Information Officer leading the Plan Bay Area engagement team, is developing a call for artists to help ensure public input feels meaningful, not formulaic. Her goal is to experiment with engagement methods that make residents feel their stories are truly part of regional planning.</p>
<p>This builds on earlier arts-based efforts at MTC-ABAG, such as a photography project that highlighted the human stories behind planning issues. While that individual-led initiative has ended, staff continue to look for ways to bring creative voices into major planning conversations.</p>
<p>One promising new program is the Community Action Resource and Empowerment (CARE): Power-building and Engagement Program, which includes a $250,000 cultural placemaking component for community-based organizations. Grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 support leadership development, multi-sector partnerships, and community-driven projects across the region.</p>
<p>Assistant Director of Evidence and Impact Judis Santos, who oversees CARE, drew inspiration from peer MPOs in the Culture and Community Network, including Portland’s community placemaking program. While the program is debuting this year, she envisions CARE as a way to build long-term capacity in underrepresented communities and demonstrate the value of integrating culture into core planning efforts.</p>
<p>With funding tied to the accelerated Regional Early Action Plan (REAP) and One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) programs, there are expectations to deliver results by December 2026. The timeline adds urgency and also opportunity to show how cultural strategies can strengthen equity and community impact.</p>
<h3>Challenges and lessons learned along the way</h3>
<p>Like many MPOs, MTC–ABAG faces challenges in advancing equity-focused programs. Staff have noted challenges in clearly articulating and operationalizing equity values and performance metrics, as well tension between organizational aspirations and external political uncertainties.</p>
<p>One suggestion for balancing these considerations is framing programs like CARE as iterative opportunities for institutional learning while setting achievable first-phase goals, rather than trying to realize their full potential immediately. This incremental approach may help secure leadership buy-in while laying a more flexible foundation for deeper integration over time.</p>
<p>Another theme that emerged in MTC-ABAG’s work is the importance of combining data-driven analysis with emotional resonance. Judis has championed the need to make space for emotional expression in policymaking, whether through storytelling, the arts, or even theater-based exercises that help staff embody community experiences.</p>
<p>This dual approach of anchoring decisions in both quantitative metrics and lived experience has the potential to change how planning conversations unfold, making them more accessible and human-centered.</p>
<h3>Looking ahead</h3>
<p>With new experiments in arts-based engagement, a major investment through the CARE program, and ongoing efforts to balance qualitative and analytical perspectives, MTC-ABAG is clearly on the threshold of weaving arts and culture into its core planning, design, and delivery work.</p>
<p>Leadership support, staff capacity, program design, and broad outreach to new collaborators will all be key to the continued development of these nascent efforts. Staff commitment to learning from peers, testing creative approaches, and using both data and stories to build a stronger case for cultural integration bodes well for the future. For MTC-ABAG, arts integration isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about using creativity to unlock civic participation, center equity, and balance the emotional with the analytical in shaping the future of the region.</p>


Blending creativity, data, and equity in the Bay Area

CMAP

<p><strong>The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), the metropolitan planning organization (MPO) for the greater Chicago region, is in a moment of transformation. Alongside new investments in agency-wide systems, processes, and transparency, the organization is exploring how arts and culture can move from being individual-led activities to becoming a more intentional part of planning practice. The Culture &amp; Community Network (CCN) has offered CMAP staff both inspiration and validation: arts and culture can be an approach for planning itself, not merely an afterthought or add-on.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107777" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-1024x682.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="682" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-300x200.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-768x512.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CMAP.jpg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<h3>Background</h3>
<p>Elizabeth Miller began her career in the arts world, working in a college gallery and then at a regional grantmaking body in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her research on equity efforts in arts and culture introduced her to civically engaged artists whose work deepened her interest in the relationship between arts, planning, and the collective imagination needed to envision a better society.</p>
<p>Asha Barnes studied anthropology and uses poetry as her artistic outlet. At CMAP, she has explored zines as a creative engagement tool, an approach she credits to a former colleague’s innovation. For Asha, CCN combines two passions—storytelling and planning.</p>
<p>Sema Abulhab has long been interested in the arts, languages, and design. As part of CMAP’s engagement team, she leads youth engagement and enjoys infusing creativity into planning processes. CCN provided her with a supportive network of peers who share her belief that creative approaches can and should be central to planning.</p>
<h3>Arts and culture efforts in planning and engagement</h3>
<p>Arts integration at CMAP has so far been sporadic and project-dependent. Early examples included artists leading screen-printing activities at community events, where residents could design images for tote bags. Zines have been another recurring creative format, carried forward by Asha and Sema in different projects. These efforts have shown promise but have often depended on individual initiative and available grant funding rather than being built into the agency’s process.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, CMAP is at a potential turning point. Leadership is prioritizing agency-wide efforts aimed at streamlined, transparent governance and management that, while technical, open the door to embedding creative engagement earlier and more consistently. Staff see an opportunity to pair these internal changes with “easy wins” in engagement: small-scale, replicable creative practices that others across the agency can adopt.</span></p>
<h3>Challenges along the way</h3>
<p>Like many MPOs, CMAP faces the challenge of scale. Individual creative experiments have happened, but without a system to gather, document, and inventory past arts-based approaches, knowledge remains siloed. Staff are also aware of the risk that creativity remains an add-on at the tail end of projects, rather than being part of the process from the beginning.</p>
<h3>Lessons learned</h3>
<p>Through CCN, the CMAP team has reinforced several insights:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Don’t say no to yourself—ask questions first!</strong> Don’t assume something won’t be allowed; often creative engagement happens by experimenting with possibilities.</li>
<li><strong>Executive priorities matter.</strong> Arts integration must be framed in ways that align with agency-wide goals, such as transparency, good governance, and data-driven planning.</li>
<li><strong>Make the “impossible,” possible.</strong> Imagining the most “off-the-wall” idea and then breaking that down into what’s possible in the moment is a powerful way to spark innovation.</li>
<li><strong>Don’t wait for permission.</strong> Some of CMAP’s most successful experiments, like zines, weren’t formally approved in advance; they became celebrated by proving their value.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<p>The team also values CCN’s peer learning model. For Elizabeth, this is her first professional development opportunity that feels both national in scope and grounded in real practice. For Asha and Sema, the network has provided affirmation that others at MPOs are grappling with the same questions and making meaningful progress.</p>
<h3>Looking ahead</h3>
<p>CMAP’s immediate focus is an upcoming agency event and the next regional visioning plan. Staff are excited about testing new engagement formats for elected officials and residents alike and using lessons from CCN to ensure resident voices are centered.</p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Looking further ahead, CMAP staff are considering:</span></p>
<ul>
<li>Building an inventory of past creative engagement strategies to guide future projects.</li>
<li>Using CMAP’s technical assistance program as a testing ground for small, replicable creative methods.</li>
<li>Embedding arts and culture considerations into project management and agency processes from the start.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-spacer" style="height: 20px;" aria-hidden="true"> </div>
<p>CMAP’s story underscores that integrating arts and culture into planning is less about creating new standalone programs and more about making creativity part of how planning is practiced. For an agency in transition, this might mean documenting past efforts, building on small experiments, and aligning arts-based approaches with broader organizational priorities. CCN is helping staff imagine what’s possible while also taking incremental steps now to set the foundation for embedding arts and culture at the heart of regional planning in the future.</p>


Weaving arts and culture into planning processes

josh-hild-MTLGJkHhBww-unsplash

<p><strong>With <a href="https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/10/governor-newsom-builds-on-this-years-historic-housing-reforms-signs-legislation-to-accelerate-housing-and-affordability/">Governor Newsom’s signature today</a>, California’s SB 79, the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, is now law, opening up opportunities to build more multifamily housing in connected and convenient places across the state. SB 79 is part of a <a href="https://usclimatealliance.org/guide/land-use-planning-guide-feb-2025/">larger trend</a> of state-level land use reform taking place around the U.S.; these policies can help advance efforts to unlock much-needed housing in other states working to address the housing shortage and high housing costs.</strong></p>
<p>SB 79, the latest of the California legislature’s efforts to ease the state’s <a href="https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/09/california-housing-shortage/">housing shortage</a>, establishes standard zoning requirements (particularly height and density limits) within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of major transit stops across the state, with the goal of boosting housing development in areas of the state with access to high quality public transit (defined as certain metro, light rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit systems). This means that duplexes, townhomes, and other forms of <a href="https://missingmiddlehousing.com/">Missing Middle Housing</a>, as well as smaller apartment buildings, can now more easily be built close to transit stops. SB 79 also allows local transit agencies to zone and develop the land they own, which opens up opportunities for the redevelopment of underutilized sites, including parking lots.</p>
<p>With the passage of SB 79, California joins states like <a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/multi-family-zoning-requirement-for-mbta-communities">Massachusetts</a> and <a href="https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/04/16/state-senate-greenlights-sweeping-tod-housing-bill/">Washington</a> in promoting transit-oriented development (TOD) via land use reform at the state level. In encouraging the building of more homes near transit, communities can boost housing supply, support housing affordability, and provide more people with more transportation options. This approach increases access to jobs and amenities, helps to house a growing population, and minimizes impacts on traffic congestion and parking availability. This approach also promotes development largely within existing communities—which often face less wildfire risk than the urban fringe—and promotes less emissions-heavy transportation modes, like walking, biking, and of course, taking public transit.</p>
<p>With a national housing shortage affecting every state in the U.S., efforts like those in California, Massachusetts, and Washington can help show a path forward for other states looking to address high housing costs, while improving mobility and boosting resilience at the same time.</p>
<p>Smart Growth America advocates for <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/focus_areas/housing-and-development/">land use strategies</a>, like SB 79, that help create more homes and supports states and communities in overcoming zoning barriers to housing. Our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/">Center for Zoning Solutions</a> works with community-based organizations, local governments, states, and other stakeholders to develop and highlight zoning best practices, with the goal of boosting housing production and affordability.</p>
<p><em>This bill was endorsed by <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/smart-growth-roundtable/">Smart Growth Roundtable</a> member, the <a href="https://www.greenbelt.org/blog/sb79-win-law/">Greenbelt Alliance</a>.</em></p>


California

Housing and Development

With SB 79, California makes transit-oriented development law

PHOTO-2025-06-11-07-03-35 (1)

<p><strong>Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) play a pivotal but often unseen role in shaping how communities grow. They coordinate transportation and land use planning across multiple jurisdictions, allocate federal funding, and set priorities that determine which projects move forward. Their decisions influence everything from commutes to climate resilience, making them critical points of leverage for advancing equity and community-centered planning. Because of this unique role, MPOs are also well positioned to integrate arts and culture into their work—not as an afterthought, but to fundamentally reimagine how planning is conceived and executed at a regional scale. Smart Growth America’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/arts-and-culture/culture-community-network/">Culture and Community Network</a> (CCN), supports MPOs in embedding cultural and creative strategies into transportation and planning processes, helping agencies plan and design engagement that more effectively reflects communities’ realities and needs.</strong></p>
<h3>A practitioner&#8217;s perspective</h3>
<p>My journey began as a neighborhood advocate in suburban Atlanta, where I founded We Love BuHi to celebrate and uplift immigrant communities. Through cultural events and collaborations, I saw how culture can build power, shift narratives, and connect people to place. Later, at the Atlanta Regional Commission, I helped integrate arts and culture into planning, partnering with community groups to reimagine engagement and expand inclusion. These experiences showed me that arts and culture aren’t add-ons, but essential strategies for more equitable and effective regional planning.</p>
<p>This perspective is central to Smart Growth America’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/arts-and-culture/culture-community-network/">Culture and Community Network</a> (CCN), which brings together MPO staff from across the country to integrate arts, culture, and creativity into transportation and regional planning. While MPO responsibilities might seem technical and bureaucratic, these agencies occupy a crucial role at the intersection of federal investment, regional planning, and local implementation. By embedding cultural and creative approaches, MPOs can ensure planning reflects community realities, repairs past harms, and produces more equitable outcomes—transforming transportation from a system that has often divided communities into one that fosters connection, resilience, and belonging.</p>
<h3>The urgent case for creativity in planning</h3>
<p>For many residents, MPOs are invisible, even as their decisions directly shape mobility, development, and opportunity across entire regions. Governance structures can also give disproportionate power to suburban jurisdictions or state agencies, further distancing decision-making from the people most impacted. Arts and culture bridge this divide: storytelling, artmaking, and other creative practices demystify complexity, spark imagination, and invite co-design. Creativity builds trust, broadens participation, and produces outcomes that better reflect community needs.</p>
<p>MPOs are especially well-positioned to lead this shift. Their convening power and regional reach allow them to embed creative practices into long-range planning processes. When agency leaders treat MPOs as incubators of innovation—supporting staff to experiment, take risks, and share learning—these institutions can deliver better outcomes for entire regions.</p>
<h3>Avoiding surface-level approaches</h3>
<p>Not every use of arts and culture leads to real change. One-off projects or primarily aesthetic changes can generate temporary excitement but fail to influence decision-making. Worse, communities may become skeptical if these efforts feel symbolic or extractive. True impact comes from deeper engagement: designing the artist&#8217;s role as a collaborator versus a vendor, compensating artists fairly, investing in underrepresented organizations, and embedding relational practices like listening, trust-building, and care into institutional processes. CCN encourages MPOs to move beyond visual add-ons and embrace the long-term power of culture in shaping planning and policy.</p>
<h3>Building the field together</h3>
<p>Through CCN, Smart Growth America supports MPO staff to experiment with creativity, learn from peers, and embed culture and connection into agency practices. Case studies from participating MPOs highlight a clear trajectory: assessing internal readiness, identifying allies and nurturing champions, and strengthening institutional capacity from within through consistent reflection and learning. Later this year, Smart Growth America and the State Smart Transportation Initiative will release a report compiling lessons from CCN, offering guidance to help MPOs navigate barriers, foster agency culture, and sustain creative, community-centered planning.</p>
<h3>Moving forward</h3>
<p>The future of regional planning depends not only on data and engineering, but also on creativity, culture, and human connection. By embracing arts and culture, MPOs can design engagement that reflects their communities, build trust for long-term collaboration, and create more resilient regions. At Smart Growth America, we see MPOs as essential to this transformation and are committed to supporting them as they lead the way.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


Supporting MPO innovation through SGA&#8217;s Culture and Community Network

vulnerable and low income

<p><strong>As floods, wildfires, and other climate hazards impact more and more Americans, the costs of adaptation, recovery, and rebuilding continue to rise. While climate change makes events like these happen more frequently and more intensely, the way communities develop also plays a role. Communities that favor low-density sprawl become an expanding bull’s-eye, with more and more people placed in harm’s way as development expands. Instead of continuing to sprawl, communities should prioritize zoning and land use policies that encourage more people to live in safer places, with a range of housing types and prices that make communities accessible to residents of all incomes.</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[alert type=&#8221;info&#8221;] </span>The <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/">Center for Zoning Solutions</a> (CZS), a program of Smart Growth America, supports communities to advance policies to encourage mixed-use development, location efficiency, and diverse housing options. CZS provides technical assistance to local and state governments and community-based organizations to develop and implement zoning solutions, publishes reports, articles, and research and hosts educational webinars on zoning reform, and leads federal and state advocacy on these issues.<span style="font-weight: 400;">[/alert]</span></p>
<h3>The expanding bull’s-eye effect</h3>
<p>For decades, Americans have been moving to cities in the South and Southwest in large numbers, <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/economists-outlook/state-to-state-migration-trends-in-2022">largely spurred</a> by the lower cost of housing in these areas. But many of these areas are also often <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/30/climate/americans-moving-hurricane-wildfire-risk.html">highly vulnerable</a> to natural hazards like floods, wildfires, and droughts. Worse, since this growth has <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/paving-over-paradise-how-sprawl-destroys-our-farms-and-forests-and-how-smart-growth-can-help/">driven urban sprawl</a> into wetlands, forests, farms, and other natural and agricultural lands, many of these fast-growing cities have become an <a href="https://chubasco.niu.edu/ebe.htm">expanding bull’s-eye</a>—as they spread further and further out, more people are put in harm’s way.</p>
<p>This isn’t unique to faster-growing communities—sprawl has been the status quo model of development for the U.S. as far back as the 1960s. Everywhere in the U.S., communities have sprawled into floodplains, into the wildfire-prone wildland-urban interface (WUI), and into drought vulnerable areas, increasing Americans’ exposure to extreme weather. And increased development in vulnerable areas doesn’t just put more people in harm’s way—it also limits housing choice and drives up prices, forcing families into more affordable but riskier locations. Sprawl increases the severity of the risks people face because it contributes to urban heat islands, puts more pressure on limited water supplies in drought-prone areas, and reduces potential natural barriers to wildfires. . And with climate change threatening to expand hazard zones, this trend will only continue.</p>
<p>In addition to the dangers to human life and prosperity, continued sprawl into hazard zones will make the costs of insurance, disaster recovery, and rebuilding unmanageable, a risk which becomes even more salient with reduced support for recovery from the federal government. The annual number of billion-dollar disasters has already <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/climate/noaa-billion-dollar-disasters.html">more than doubled</a> since the 1980s, and, prior to recent changes, federal spending on much-needed disaster preparation and recovery (including the National Flood Insurance Program, FEMA’s disaster relief fund, the National Forest Service’s wildfire suppression programs, and the Department of Agriculture’s crop insurance program) was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/10/12/us-disaster-funding-cost-climate-change/">skyrocketing</a>. Many insurance companies have also either gone insolvent or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/12/18/climate/insurance-non-renewal-climate-crisis.html">pulled back</a> from hazard-prone areas entirely.</p>
<p>Despite these drawbacks, sprawl continues. This is largely because many communities have adopted zoning ordinances that codify and incentivize sprawl (and because market norms often make this type of housing the easiest to finance). Limiting most development to detached single-family homes and low-density commercial development, these zoning codes not only push people into hazard-prone areas but also restrict the types and prices of housing available, reducing affordability and excluding middle-income residents from safer, amenity-rich neighborhoods. . Communities should not continue to direct new residents into harm’s way. Instead, local policymakers should reform their zoning codes to curb sprawl, allowing a wider variety of housing types at different price points in areas with lower hazard risk.</p>
<h3>Zoning for housing away from hazards</h3>
<p>Communities can use smart growth zoning reforms—like allowing missing middle housing, revising parking minimums and other excessive development standards, or enacting a form-based code—to help curb sprawl by promoting development within existing communities and in locations with the least exposure to climate hazards. By offering diverse housing types, communities can meet the needs of families across income levels, ensuring that safer, lower-risk areas are accessible to more people and not just those who can afford single-family homes.</p>
<p>Local governments also have additional avenues to reduce hazard exposure through their land use and zoning policies. These strategies can include:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/zoning-for-climate/">Climate-informed zoning</a> incorporates hazard vulnerability into zoning ordinances by incentivizing development in areas with less exposure and/or requiring resilience elements for projects in hazard-prone areas.</li>
<li>Infill development involves development on vacant or underutilized lots in already developed areas and can be promoted by local governments through land acquisition programs, public sector-led development, and/or funding mechanisms. Local governments can develop strategies to screen these types of sites for climate risk including risks of flooding, wildfire and other hazards.</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">[alert type=&#8221;info&#8221;] </span>Learn more about how communities can protect their residents from natural hazards in Smart Growth America’s <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/resources/housing-for-havens/">Housing for Havens: Smart growth strategies for climate resilience</a> report. <span style="font-weight: 400;">[/alert]</span></p>
<p>With zoning and land use tools like these, communities can take steps to curb sprawl and prevent further development in hazard zones. Doing so allows communities to provide more housing options at prices people can afford, while keeping residents out of harm’s way. But community members, planning practitioners, and elected officials alike must push for these reforms—or continue putting people in harm’s way.</p>


infill

An expanding bull’s-eye: How sprawl puts people in natural hazard zones and how smart growth can help

Climate Change

capitol

<p><strong>Today is the first day of a government shutdown of uncertain length and consequence–read on for a reminder of what a government shutdown usually looks like, and what we’re watching for in the current environment of rescissions, partisan fracturing, and reductions in force.</strong> </p>
<p>At 12:01 this morning, the federal government shut down after Congress <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/30/shutdown-near-certain-after-senate-again-rejects-funding-bills-00589136">failed to pass a seven-week government funding extension</a> led by Congressional Republicans. The measure passed the Republican-controlled House but failed in the Senate, where it required 60 votes—and the support of Democrats—to pass. While two Democrats and one independent voted with Republicans in favor of the funding bill, Senate Democrats largely stuck together and voted down the bill, refusing to provide the votes to pass the measure after doing so last fiscal year, only to then see the Trump Administration pursue an aggressive campaign of legally dubious rescissions, staff cuts, and politically-motivated slow walking of program implementation. “Nobody has any incentive to reach a deal if it’s not going to be honored,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/30/the-other-reason-democrats-are-taking-trump-to-the-mat-in-a-shutdown-battle-00588747">Politico reported</a> Senator Merkley of Oregon saying, as he expressed his concerns around the Trump Administration’s implementation of a funding deal. While Democrats have tied their negotiating position on the funding package to healthcare provisions, the tension around the separation of powers and fundamental ability of Congress to determine spending for the country is an underlying issue roiling the debate and driving some of the dynamics of the shutdown.</p>
<p>In the midst of this turbulence, it’s helpful to revisit how the federal funding process traditionally works and what a government shutdown has looked like in the past. With that background in mind, we then ask what’s next, given the unusual present situation–a difficult question, but one with a set number of possible paths. </p>
<h3>How is the federal government funding process supposed to work?</h3>
<p>Under the Constitution, the responsibility to appropriate funds for government operations falls to the Legislative Branch. Congress executes this responsibility through the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and the yearly appropriations process. Each year, the President proposes a budget, and then the House and Senate Appropriations committees create draft legislation based on the President’s request, as well as requests from their constituents and other members of Congress. The House and Senate each <a href="https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/subcommittees">draft 12 appropriations bills</a> via 12 subcommittees that focus on specific related topics within the federal government, such as Homeland Security, Agriculture, and Energy and Water Development. After these drafts are completed and their differences are reconciled, Congress begins trying to pass a consolidated version of each of the 12 bills. The bills can either be passed individually or bundled together in comprehensive packages known as omnibuses. If Congress passes a handful of appropriations bills but fails to pass others, it can trigger a partial government shutdown.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107664" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/federal-budgeting-process-1024x568.png" alt="" width="1024" height="568" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/federal-budgeting-process-1024x568.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/federal-budgeting-process-300x166.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/federal-budgeting-process-768x426.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/federal-budgeting-process.png 1084w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<p>If Congress cannot agree on the funding levels for a new suite of funding bills, an alternative path is a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46595#_Toc194068895">continuing resolution</a> (indicated in the chart above with the orange arrow). A continuing resolution is an agreement to reference last year’s funding amounts across programs–essentially an agreement that a new deal can’t be struck, but that funding must be provided so last year’s levels will do for now. Continuing resolutions (CRs) are typically viewed as a cut to funding because they don’t allow for standard inflationary adjustments to programs, usually prohibit agencies from initiating new programs or activities, and can vary in length. Short-term CRs can be used to buy more time to negotiate a full-year funding deal, while year-long CRs are a last-ditch effort alternative to a full-year funding deal. Lastly, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R46595#_Toc194068895">anomalies</a>–meaning exceptions to the duration, amount, or purposes that funds can be used for that don’t align with what’s laid out in the rest of the CR—and legislative language can be included in CRs.</p>
<h3>What is a government shutdown?</h3>
<p>A government shutdown occurs if Congress does not pass a government funding bill of some kind–either a full suite of appropriations bills or a continuing resolution–by September 30th in a given year. Broadly speaking, a government shutdown requires federal agencies to pause their activity, furlough workers, and spin down their activity to what is minimally required for safety or essential work functions of the government. In practice, what this means varies from agency to agency and from presidential administration to presidential administration because a great deal of discretion around the design and implementation of a shutdown plan falls to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). For example, the Trump Administration, under the leadership of OMB Director Russ Vought, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/24/white-house-firings-shutdown-00579909">has threatened to go beyond the standard practice of furloughing federal workers during a shutdown</a> and instead seek further reductions in force. For now, the HUD Contingency Plan for the lapse in appropriations is available <a href="https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/HUD-Lapse-Plan.pdf">here</a>, the EPA Contingency Plan is available <a href="https://www.epa.gov/lapse/agency-contingency-plans-event-lapse-appropriations">here</a>, and the DOT Contingency Plan is available <a href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:cd88e2a9-8aab-48de-91fc-226fb213e35a?viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover">here</a>. The contingency plans provide preliminary guidance on staffing and operations plans during the shutdown at the respective agencies.</p>
<h3>What happens next?</h3>
<p>There are three likely paths forward in the coming weeks, with some hybrid of the three a fourth option: a sustained shutdown, a year-long continuing resolution, and the successful negotiation of a new FY26 budget. The shutdown seems likely to drag on for at least a few weeks, and a half-new-half-old funding situation could occur if Congress were to be able to successfully negotiate a new budget for a select group of agencies and accounts but fail to reach an agreement and have to go on a year-long continuing resolution for the remaining agencies (unlikely but not impossible). What actually happens will be dictated by the political will of each side in the negotiations–Democrats have made it clear they’d like to see some forward movement on healthcare negotiations as a requirement for their cooperation on funding, although the posture varies between members of Congress on what degree of movement might be enough to garner the votes needed to pass a government funding bill. There’s also some question of who voters blame for any pain they experience as a result of the shutdown and subsequent threatened cuts to federal government staffing. Democrats already lost three members of their caucus on last night’s government funding vote–Senators Fetterman, Cortez Masto, and King–and Republicans only need a handful more Democrats to join them to pass a bill. </p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107663" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/budget-oucomes-1024x564.png" alt="" width="1024" height="564" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/budget-oucomes-1024x564.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/budget-oucomes-300x165.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/budget-oucomes-768x423.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/budget-oucomes.png 1083w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<p>The shutdown length remains uncertain–the immediate path forward is unclear, as is the extent to which the American public will blame either or all parties involved for the fallout from the shutdown. As the shutdown continues, Smart Growth America plans to monitor and provide updates on the impact of staff cuts and work freezes on transportation, housing, and land use work in communities across the country. Receive important updates by <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/subscribe/">subscribing to our newsletter.</a></p>


Budget

congress

federal funding

shutdown

The government shuts down: What does it mean and what we’re watching 

Advocacy

Screenshot 2025-09-30 at 4.05.28 PM

<p><strong>Last month, Katharine Burgess, Smart Growth America’s VP of Programs and Operations, attended YIMBYtown 2025, a national pro-housing conference. The conference brought together leaders and advocates from across the country to discuss opportunities to advance more affordable and abundant housing. Excitingly, smart growth housing priorities, such as transportation, climate, and affordability, came through as top issues within the conference programming.</strong></p>
<p>On September 14, I joined over 1,000 advocates in New Haven, Connecticut, to share stories and compare notes on how we are addressing the current housing affordability and access crises. Hosted by DesegregateCT, a program of the Regional Plan Association (RPA), YIMBYtown showcased both the national urgency of the housing crisis and the local flavor of its host city—complete with hundreds of pizzas delivered to keep conference-goers fueled.</p>
<p>Thanks in part to <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/smart-growth-roundtable/">Smart Growth Roundtable</a> member and event host RPA, smart growth was a central theme of the event. Panelists and speakers emphasized that the YIMBY movement will make the biggest impact when it prioritizes location, affordability, transit access, and climate resilience. Housing reform can’t get accomplished alone: It takes transportation reform to open up sites for higher density and economic development opportunities, and recognition of climate risk to ensure future housing isn’t developed on sites that put future occupants&#8217; safety, property, and possessions at risk.</p>
<p>The event also showed the tremendous potential that this organizing network has to continue to move the needle, especially if it aligns housing advocacy with smart growth strategies.</p>
<h3>The vibe of the event</h3>
<p>Daryl Fairweather, PhD, Chief Economist at Redfin, summarized the conference goal in her remarks: “Winning is creating a society where housing affordability is not on people’s minds and it’s not a barrier.” But to get there, she emphasized that advocates need a shared recognition of the problem, and there was broad agreement that housing is the defining issue of our time.</p>
<p>Elected officials at every level echoed this urgency:</p>
<ul>
<li>Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO) reminded attendees: “If you can’t put a roof over your head, that is fundamental to the rest of your success.”</li>
<li>North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong (R) highlighted what was on the mind of most of the advocates in the room: To find success in overcoming the obstacles, “You have to have a message that resonates.”</li>
<li>Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam (D) pointed to the urgency of the moment, warning that if we fail to meet the moment, “shame on us.”</li>
</ul>
<h3>Smart growth highlights</h3>
<h4>Finding zoning solutions</h4>
<p>Speakers and panelists shared strategies and examples of how to reform outdated land-use rules and build coalitions on the ground to deliver more housing in the right places. As attendees were reminded, moving beyond a focus on low-density residential development on the fringes of communities is crucial to creating the more abundant, well-connected, and vibrant communities we are working toward. As Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE) put it: “Think about density, think about infill. People want access to school, the pool, and the convenience store—and that’s also good for social mobility.”</p>
<h4>Integrating housing and transportation</h4>
<p>The speakers stressed that it’s not one or the other: housing and transportation are two sides of the same coin, and that any progress will mean tackling barriers for both topics. Outdated transportation policies often prevent the density needed for true housing affordability, accessibility, and abundance, while strong transit investments can unlock opportunity. “Housing for cars makes it more expensive to build housing for people,” noted Stephanie Pollack, former Deputy Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. “To have abundant housing, you need transit,” added Eric Goldwyn of NYU.</p>
<h4>Addressing climate risk</h4>
<p>Mainstage speakers urged YIMBY advocates to push for homes in places resilient to climate impacts, warning against trading short-term affordability for long-term costs like insurance and maintenance. As Dr. Jenny Schuetz of Arnold Ventures explained: “We want people to feel a sense of urgency—but not so much that they hide under the covers. We need to talk in a way that motivates action, not just fear.”</p>
<h4>Focus on outcomes</h4>
<p>While YIMBY advocacy has driven wins at the state and local level, attendees emphasized the need to keep pushing. “YIMBY phase 1 is changing the rules. YIMBY phase 2 is getting things built,” said Pollack. Keynote speaker Tamika L. Butler urged the movement to think beyond policy reform: “When I hear we reformed zoning codes, I want to hear who moved in, how they were treated.”</p>
<h4>Challenges ahead</h4>
<p>YIMBY advocacy has reshaped housing policy across the country, but significant barriers remain. Conference-goers were reminded of this in the conference&#8217;s backyard, as Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont vetoed a major housing bill earlier this year (and was un-invited from the conference in short order).</p>
<h3>SGA&#8217;s role</h3>
<p>At Smart Growth America, we’re working to address the housing crisis by focusing on three key priorities: the types of homes available, where they’re built, and how much they cost to build and live in. At YIMBYtown, I met countless advocates who shared our vision for an abundant housing future. They understand the scope of the challenge, and they recognize that we cannot continue with the same old approaches if we want equitable solutions that will lead to more housing in the right places at the right price. I left New Haven energized and committed to making sure transportation, climate, and long-term outcomes remain central to the conversation.</p>


affordable housing

Climate Resilience

YIMBYtown 2025: Building momentum for abundant, affordable housing

Transportation

National-City-CA-land-community-connectors-source-Mundo-Gardens

<p><strong>With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Smart Growth America’s Community Connectors program will support three city teams in repairing divisive infrastructure, improving safety on local arterial roads, and sparking the long-term partnerships and support necessary for making permanent reconnections.</strong></p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107640" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cc-2025-graphic-1024x576.png" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cc-2025-graphic-1024x576.png 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cc-2025-graphic-300x169.png 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cc-2025-graphic-768x432.png 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cc-2025-graphic-1536x864.png 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/cc-2025-graphic.png 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<p>We&#8217;re excited to announce the three communities who were chosen to participate in Community Connectors, our year-long program that will support city leaders and community-based organizations with implementing quick-build demonstration projects. This year’s cohort is:</p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Akron, Ohio with the Summit Lake Community Development Corporation</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Baltimore County, Maryland with the Northeast Towson Improvement Association of Historic East Towson</span></li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Little Rock, Arkansas with studioMAIN</span></li>
</ul>
<p>Each team is jointly led by city or county staff and community-based organizations, and will include many other local partners throughout the program, which starts in October. Over the course of a series of virtual sessions, an in-person workshop, and one-on-one assistance, along with the support of a grant, these teams will be equipped to design, install, and measure the impact of a quick-build project on an arterial road in their community, which will be in place next spring. By building community-led temporary installations, the teams will be able to build the skills and partnerships to further reconnect their neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Learn a bit about each community and what the teams plan to achieve with Community Connectors:</p>
<h3>1. Akron and the Summit Lake Community Development Corporation</h3>
<p>The Summit Lake neighborhood in Akron, Ohio is cut off from essential amenities, as well as the lake itself, by busy Lakeshore Boulevard which also lacks sidewalks and crosswalks. The neighborhood is the focus of a lot of ongoing planning work, including a pedestrian master plan, a land use plan, and redevelopment of public housing based on the HUD Choice Neighborhoods Transformation Plan. Through all of this work, residents have repeatedly brought up unsafe streets as a primary concern. Through Community Connectors, this team aims to test strategies recommended in the pedestrian master plan for improving safety conditions for people walking in this neighborhood, and to build the institutional knowledge to be able to replicate this approach elsewhere, working with nearby residents throughout the process.</p>
<h3>2. Baltimore County and the Northeast Towson Improvement Association of Historic East Towson</h3>
<p>Historic East Towson in Baltimore County is one of the oldest Black communities in the region. This tight-knit community has worked to celebrate local residents, share the area’s history, and honor the truth of the community through festivals, walking tours, the dedication of the Truth and Community Remembrance Park, and the ongoing Road to Freedom Trail project to connect Historic East Towson and the Hampton National Historic Site. The area still faces challenges from divisive infrastructure, including a power substation that was built in the neighborhood and a highway bypass. At the center of the neighborhood, Towsontown Boulevard divides neighborhood residents from schools, parks, and essential services. This team is planning a demonstration project that will continue strengthening the partnerships between the community and the county, improve safety at key intersections, and connect to the neighborhood’s history.</p>
<h3>3. Little Rock and studioMAIN</h3>
<p>The Historic 9th Street Corridor Gateway was a thriving center of Black culture, music, and business in Little Rock until the construction of I-630 and associated “slum clearance” devastated the area, displacing hundreds of families and cutting the neighborhoods south of the interstate off from the city&#8217;s downtown. Wide arterials with no safe crossings divide the area from the city, creating both a physical and symbolic separation. This team has worked with cultural institutions, youth organizations, local libraries and universities, and city leaders to understand the legacy of I-630 and envision what a safe and connected future for the neighborhood could look like. Through this program, the team plans to install a demonstration project that tells the history of this corridor, amplifies neighborhood residents’ stories, and builds support for permanent street improvements restoring the connectivity to communities south of I-630.</p>
<p>We will be sharing stories about these communities and interviews with the participants in the coming months. Stay tuned to learn more about this year’s Community Connectors cohort!</p>


Community Connectors

quick-build projects

Three communities selected to learn about and design quick-build demonstration projects

Technical assistance

IMG_1674

<p><strong>Week Without Driving challenges people to go one week without driving to learn firsthand about the barriers people face outside of a car. Taking the bus, walking and biking, or paying for rideshare shows the hidden costs of car-centric infrastructure, which Week Without Driving shines a light on. The 2025 challenge takes place September 29 to October 5.</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">SGA’s new blog series on examining our built environment shows how you can use <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/how-walk-audits-help-create-a-safer-built-environment/">walk audits</a>, bike audits, and <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/accessibility-audits-are-essential-for-building-better-streets/">accessibility audits</a> as tools to keep advocating for these necessary changes, during Week Without Driving and beyond.</span></p>
<p>Many of us probably have fond memories of riding on a bike through our community as a kid or teenager. Bikes offer a freedom and independence for youth that is otherwise hard to achieve. But as adults, they can transform into important tools to identify necessary infrastructure changes, raise awareness, and bring joy back to transportation planning. All this, and more, is done through a bike audit.</p>
<p>A bike audit is similar to the other forms of audits we have covered recently. Whereas a walk audit or accessibility audit is primarily done by foot, a bike audit is done by – you guessed it – riding bikes. While some strategies will need to shift (it is admittedly hard to take notes while riding) many of the other elements found in other forms of audits will remain the same including the types of people to include, items to look for, and follow-up needed. Participants will need to be informed of the route beforehand and a briefing should be done to discuss rules for the audit such as how the group will stay together, who is in the lead, and any expected stops along the way.</p>
<p>There are several reasons a community should consider doing a bike audit. Ideally, it would be done in conjunction with some sort of project planning, whether it’s using an installed quick-build demonstration or touring a potential project site. It’s also a great activity to do as part of Bike to Work or Bike to School celebrations.</p>
<p>In short, a bike audit can:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Identify needs to connect or improve the bike network.</strong> While a community might have a bike network, it is likely that it was done as part of multiple projects and/or using multiple types of design. A bike audit can identify which parts of the community are in need of bike infrastructure to reach key destinations or identify parts of the existing bike network that would benefit from increased protection (i.e. transitioning from painted bike lanes to bike lanes protected with bollards or other materials). Bike audits can also make the case for lowering speed limits or other strategies needed to make riders more safe and comfortable along the route.</li>
<li><strong>Expand outreach for existing or future projects.</strong> Some communities are fortunate enough to have the benefit of a local bike advocacy group. But even those communities might be missing out on the perspectives of those people who bike regularly but don’t consider themselves part of the bike community. A dedicated event like a bike audit can get those people out to connect with planners and provide feedback on their daily experience.</li>
<li><strong>Bike audits provide an opportunity for the community to see people biking.</strong> How often have we heard the refrain that “no one will use the bike lane”? A bike audit demonstrates to the general community that not only are there people who would use the bike lane, there are people who care enough about the bike infrastructure in their neighborhood to make it happen. It also recommits the city’s intent to create a safe and active place.</li>
</ul>
<p>Smart Growth America recently conducted a bike audit in San Antonio as part of a workshop to support the city’s efforts in the implementation of its award-winning Complete Streets policy. We saw that it became an opportunity for city staff, especially those from the Public Works Department, to identify things that could be done better now or in the immediate future such as taking advantage of scheduled striping to evaluate maintenance for bike lanes. Participants noted the contrast between choosing to take part in the bike audit and the reality that many San Antonians travel this way daily because they have no alternatives. These observations underscored the urgent need for safer, more connected streets and will be a lasting reflection in days to come.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107622" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG_1667-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG_1667-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG_1667-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG_1667-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG_1667-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG_1667-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<p><em>Want more examples of a bike audit in action? Check out our <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/durham-nc-combining-vision-zero-and-complete-streets-to-reach-ambitious-safety-goals/">recap of a workshop in Durham, NC.</a> <br />
</em></p>


bike audit

biking

Workshops

The role of bike audits in building better communities

2930205760_8b7376c33e_o

<p><strong>Many communities across the U.S. are looking for ways to boost housing production in response to the national housing crisis. But building housing on everything everywhere, including on federal lands, would not provide the housing people need to thrive. Continuing to sprawl into agricultural and natural lands means decimating more ecosystems. Instead, communities should prioritize zoning reform to boost housing production in the right places—within existing neighborhoods and near jobs, schools, parks, and services—while protecting agricultural and natural lands.</strong></p>
<h3>Sprawl: What it is and why it happens</h3>
<p>As a national housing shortage drives up costs for Americans around the country, federal elected officials have proposed selling <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/climate/senate-gop-public-land-sale.html">millions of acres</a> of public lands to free them up for the building of housing. While communities across the U.S. must build more housing to start addressing the severe housing crisis, most of these public lands are remote from existing homes and jobs, far from the services and opportunities that people rely on to thrive. As a result, this strategy will likely have <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/opening-up-federal-lands-unlikely-to-move-the-needle-on-housing/">little effect</a> on housing affordability. But worse, opening up federal lands for housing would be doubling down on urban sprawl and the paving over of agricultural and natural lands.</p>
<p>Urban sprawl, the continued encroachment of single-family subdivisions, strip malls, and other low-density development on previously undeveloped land, has significant negative results for people and places. Sprawling development <a href="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/EndangeredBySprawl.pdf">destroys habitat for wildlife</a>, destabilizing local ecosystems, posing a threat to imperiled species, and reducing the ability of our natural lands to absorb carbon, mitigate floods, and combat urban heat. It also separates people from the everyday places they need—grocery stores, doctors’ offices, schools, and parks—forcing long commutes and car dependency. Developing agricultural and natural lands also limits people’s access to green space (which <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/health-equity-and-the-built-environment/">impacts public health</a>), hurts local food systems (<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042098019841540">creating food deserts</a>), and <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/care-about-climate-take-a-look-at-your-communitys-zoning/">promotes emissions-heavy</a> lifestyles that significantly contribute to climate change.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-107593" src="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2930205760_8b7376c33e_o-1024x768.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" srcset="https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2930205760_8b7376c33e_o-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2930205760_8b7376c33e_o-300x225.jpg 300w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2930205760_8b7376c33e_o-768x576.jpg 768w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2930205760_8b7376c33e_o-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://wordpress.smartgrowthamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2930205760_8b7376c33e_o-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p>
<p>Unfortunately, sprawl has been the status quo model of development for many U.S. communities for decades, starting with the invention of American suburbia with Levitttown in the 1960s. According to the <a href="https://www.mrlc.gov/">National Land Cover Database</a>, the 11-county Atlanta region, which consisted of only 33 percent developed land in 1985, is now 57 percent developed due to the loss of nearly 800 square miles of natural and agricultural lands. In Maricopa County, home to Phoenix (the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/12/us/phoenix-census-fastest-growing-city.html">nation’s fastest growing large city</a>), the percentage of developed land has doubled to 14 percent. And the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, which has lost population since 1985, has still seen 200 square miles of natural and agricultural lands lost to sprawl.</p>
<p>One of the main reasons sprawl has become so commonplace, despite its widespread impacts, is zoning regulations. Many communities have largely limited new housing development to detached single-family homes on large lots through their zoning codes, blocking missing middle housing like duplexes or townhomes (whether by outright prohibiting them or by requiring additional regulatory barriers), and limiting larger multifamily buildings on large swaths of land. But since detached single-family homes require a larger footprint of land per household, cities have expanded outwards to house the same (or lower) amount of people. </p>
<p>[alert type=&#8221;info&#8221;] The <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/programs-and-coalitions/center-for-zoning-solutions/">Center for Zoning Solutions</a> (CZS), a program of Smart Growth America, supports communities to advance policies to encourage mixed-use development, location efficiency, and diverse housing options. CZS provides technical assistance to local and state governments and community-based organizations to develop and implement zoning solutions, publishes reports, articles, and research and hosts educational webinars on zoning reform, and leads federal and state advocacy on these issues. [/alert]</p>
<p>Sprawl, while widespread, is not inevitable. Communities can take action to reform their zoning codes, directing new homes to the right places: vacant lots near downtowns, surface parking lots that sit empty most of the time, and walkable neighborhoods that already have infrastructure and services in place. And in doing so, communities can help protect farms and forests while also making a dent in the housing shortage that has driven housing costs so high.</p>
<p>Communities have a wide variety of zoning tools at their disposal to combat sprawl. This can include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Adopting a zoning text amendment that allows different housing types, such as missing middle housing, by-right in more residential zones, including single-family only zones</li>
<li>Prioritizing housing over parking by allowing infill development on surface parking lots and by reducing excessive parking minimums, which <a href="https://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/knowledge-hub/news/parking-minimums-are-a-barrier-to-housing-development/">constrain housing development</a> (or even replacing them with parking maximums)</li>
<li>Adopting an Equitable Transit-Oriented Development ordinance, which uses public transit infrastructure as a catalyst for new housing development while minimizing displacement</li>
<li>Adopting a form-based code, which regulates development by its form, rather than its use (i.e. residential, commercial, etc.)</li>
<li>Reining in excessive development standards, like minimum lot sizes, setbacks, and density restrictions, which hamstring compact housing development and promote further sprawl</li>
</ul>
<p>Communities that open up more of their residential land to allow the building of many different types of housing, not just detached single-family homes on large lots, can house more people in vibrant, close-knit neighborhoods near jobs, schools, and amenities. This helps reduce car dependency, shortens commutes, and ensures homes are located out of harm’s way from extreme weather events. Without reforms like these, sprawl is likely to continue—despite the impacts to local ecosystems, public health, and climate change. Local governments must take action to address these issues, advancing zoning reform for more environmentally friendly and people-centered communities.</p>


Transit-oriented development

Paving over paradise: How sprawl destroys our farms and forests and how smart growth can help

Get involved

What is smart growth?

About us

Our work

Impact

Events

Knowledge hub

COALITIONS

LOCUS Membership Options

Steering Committee Membership Benefits

Types of Membership

Contact Us

Subscribe to our newsletter

Livable places. Healthy people. Shared prosperity.