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.
About us
Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.
Our work
Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.
Impact
Smart Growth America cultivates vibrant, sustainable communities with diverse living and transportation options, enhancing quality of life for all.
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.
Focus Areas
Housing and development
A smart growth 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.
The current rules limit what you can build and where you can build it. We’re working to change that.
For too long, housing has sprawled out, become astronomically expensive, and offered little choice in the types of places we can call home. That’s no accident! Our rules, policies, and choices have created today’s housing crisis. We’re short 4.7 million homes, and across the country, housing is increasingly out of reach for too many people.
Why smart growth is the right strategy for housing and development
Smart Growth America works to tackle the root causes of our housing challenges by focusing on three things: the types of homes available, where they’re built, and how much they cost. This approach enables more options—like duplexes, townhomes, and apartments—in walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods close to jobs, schools, and transit.
By focusing on type, place, and price, we can support communities to build more housing and become healthier, more prosperous, and more resilient.
TYPE: Expand housing options for every stage of life by eliminating outdated rules that only allow single-family homes on large lots.
PLACE: Build in connected, convenient, and climate-safe locations within existing communities—close to jobs, schools, and daily needs—making better use of underutilized land along the way.
PRICE: Reduce the cost of building and living in well-connected communities by expanding financing tools, streamlining the process, and implementing strong anti-displacement strategies.
How we lead
Smart Growth America helps local leaders, advocates, and developers in large metro areas and small towns reshape the rules to meet today’s housing needs—and plan for tomorrow’s. Smart Growth America leads two programs that advance zoning reforms and bring together smart growth developers:
- The Center for Zoning Solutions is SGA’s home for the zoning reform movement. We work alongside communities to update their local land use regulations to allow for more housing in the right places.
- LOCUS brings together purpose-driven investors and partners to advance and affect smart growth policy and outcomes at the federal, state, and local levels.
Our housing and development work
Foot Traffic Ahead
Zoned In: Economic Benefits & Shared Prosperity with Form-Based Codes
Unrealized Gains: Opportunity Zones and Small Businesses
Westside Working Group Recommendations: Equitable Zoning Reform and Affordable Housing in MA
Aligned for Affordability: A Roadmap for Local Government Policy and Practice in Northwest Arkansas
By Smart Growth America • April 30, 2025
News & Insights
By Toccarra Nicole Thomas • January 13, 2025
News & Insights
By Smart Growth America • April 30, 2025
News & Insights
By Toccarra Nicole Thomas • January 13, 2025
News & Insights
Increasing access to walkable places
Despite reporting to the contrary, our signature report, Foot Traffic Ahead, finds just the opposite: the city endures, and across most metros, grew walkable urbanism.
The report also provides policymakers with recommendations on how to increase both the supply of and access to equitable, walkable urban development while safeguarding affordability and providing benefits such as improving community health, lowering emissions by reducing car use, and advancing equity by bringing access to economic opportunity.
Programs and coalitions
Smart Growth America programs and coalitions advance land use reforms to help create healthy, prosperous, and resilient communities:
The Center for Zoning Solutions is reimagining zoning laws to make the dream community a reality, one code at a time.
LOCUS advocates for real estate policies that are as economically viable as they are socially responsible and environmentally sound.
The National Brownfields Coalition is leading the charge to transform Brownfields into viable community assets.
Get the latest news from our programs and coalitions in your inbox!
Advocacy
Help us shape the future of sustainable and equitable communities. Be an advocate for smart growth policies for healthy, prosperous, and resilient neighborhoods. Act now!
Join the Movement
Support policies and initiatives that promote smart growth, equitable development, and access to affordable housing.
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Livable places. Healthy people. Shared prosperity.
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