Smart Growth, urban planning

4. Mix land uses Smart growth supports the integration of mixed land uses into communities as a critical component of achieving better places to live.

7. Create a range of housing opportunities and choices. Providing quality housing for people of all income levels is an integral component in any smart growth strategy

8. Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place. Smart growth encourages communities to craft a vision and set standards for development and construction which respond to community values of architectural beauty and distinctiveness, as well as expanded choices in housing and transportation.

10. Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities. These are already served by infrastructure, just utilize their resources  increase their efficiency, cost effective dev, conservation of open spaces Other benefits: stronger tax base, proximity to jobs & services.. Obstacles: The ease of greenfield development , a strong economy & market demand are necessary Positives: Recent reports (2001) by Urban Land Institute on urban infill housing. governments role to facilitate market forces (ex of Denver): redefine downtown ,zoning , reconcile the many uses, tackle the parking issue. Case studies show that cities are also getting a great return on its investment, as this smart growth principle stimulates development. Helps the city become a more mixed used environment (principle 1)

11. Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices A key to smart growth, helps in reducing major problems (ex traffic congestion, air pollution..) Also makes a city more mobile, thus helps economically Achieved by: multi-modal approach + supportive development patterns :  coordinating land use & transportation; increasing quality transit service ; creating redundancy, resiliency and connectivity within their road networks ; and ensuring c onnectivit y between pedestrian, bike, transit, and road facilities. Issues: public education & awareness, weather ..

12. Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair, and Cost Effective For a community to be successful , the private sector must embrace Smart Growth (investors, bankers, developers, builders …etc)  supply the needed large amounts of money government leadership role to ensure private support (regulates & invests in infrastructure)  financial incentives  affect value of property and the desirability of a place Governments that make the right decisions will create fair, predictable and cost effective smart growth. However, these should be more timely (especially for approval) & allow innovation  often difficult

14. Resources www.wikipedia.org R. Berke , Philip... [et al.] (2006), Urban land use planning, 5 th Ed, p10, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, p13-17 Downs, A. (2001), What does smart growth really mean? [Electronic version] American Planning Magazine , from : http://www.planning.org/sgreader . http://www.smartgrowth.org/about/principles/default.asp