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What is smart growth?

Smart growth is an approach to community design that connects housing, transportation, and land use to create healthy, prosperous, and resilient neighborhoods.

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Key principles Smart growth in action

About us

Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.

Welcome to Smart Growth America How we work Mission, vision, and values Our history Our team Our Board

Our work

Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.

Focus areas

Programs & coalitions

Advocacy Direct community support Current projects Our impact

Impact

Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.

Stories of impact

Events

Throughout the year, we host a number of in-person and virtual events covering topics related to public health, social equity, and climate resilience.

All SGA@25 Celebration Equity Summit

Knowledge hub

We offer a library of case studies, videos, and reports to support policymakers, practitioners, and advocates interested in advancing smart growth.

All News Resources Video

Dangerous by design

Local Recommendation

Prioritize pedestrian and cyclist safety. Discover how we're working to reduce traffic-related fatalities and create more livable cities.

Read the Report

Safe Streets, Happy Communities

Actions that can be taken right now

Utilize quick-build demonstrations and other immediate safety interventions to address known high-crash corridors and intersections. Make permanent changes after learning from pilot projects.
Regularly maintain sidewalks, bike lanes, and other active transportation facilities, including removing trash, clearing snow, and fixing gaps or cracks.
Perform a parking/curbside audit to accurately assess how much parking exists and how much is actually needed. (Read more here)

Bigger Lifts

Establish a crash review panel representative of multidisciplinary practitioners and community members to identify systemic issues leading to individual and repeated crashes and make recommendations to address them. (Strong Towns’ Crash Studio model is a great example.)
Implement context-appropriate speed limits supported by temporary-to-permanent street design changes.
Explore applying for Safe Streets and Roads for All funds to support street design changes and improve data collection.
Improve local data collection and reporting to give the public clear information on the most dangerous streets and intersections and what’s being done to address them.
Take advantage of restriping or other maintenance projects to evaluate if the facility can and should support other modes of travel.
Adopt, implement, and fund Complete Streets policies or other legislation that support all modes, by prioritizing and addressing known risks for people walking, biking, rolling, and taking transit.

Get involved

What is smart growth?

About us

Our work

Impact

Events

Knowledge hub

Dangerous by design

Local Recommendation

Safe Streets, Happy Communities

Actions that can be taken right now

Bigger Lifts

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Livable places. Healthy people. Shared prosperity.