What is Smart Growth?
For those who oppose Euclidean zoning laws and their relationship to “urban sprawl,” a number of new urban planning systems have been created. Smart growth seeks to eliminate the environmental, social and economic issues perceived as part of suburban growth by creating land-use plans focusing on non-car transportation and an integrated city center. Elements of smart growth are not universally settled, so prospective development plans can be categorized as more or less “smart growth,” rather than simply belonging to the category or not.
Smart growth expounds the benefits of higher-density developments, whose compact nature enables residents to walk, bike, or take public transportation. Smart growth proponents call this transit-oriented development (TOD), and smart growth planning attempts to maximize access to public transportation. Supporters believe this kind of community is significantly more healthy, both socially and physically.
Smart growth also advocates mixed-use development that unites differently priced housing in the same area, and a regulated blend of certain types of commercial or public institutions, aimed at providing nearby amenities to residential neighborhoods. In order to redevelop an urban environment, a city’s zoning policies regarding height limitations, lot size, and parking requirements must be altered; sometimes, additional restrictions are placed on types of low-density development such as detached homes, strip malls, and parking lots.
Historic preservation often figures within smart growth, as another one of its chief goals is the establishment of a unique community, whose strong sense of place will attract businesses and residents. The construction or revitalization of a community center that brings together cultural resources while preserving outside natural resources via efficient use of space are also central tenets. A reexamination of the development process would include a simpler, more dependable and more equitable distribution of both costs and payback.
Smart growth emphasizes long-term, wide-spread effects over short-term, personal benefits. For example, it may be pleasant to live in a suburban neighborhood and commute via car to work, but the current usage of automobiles is disrupting the climate all over the world. A community that requires less automobile transportation will become more pleasant as traffic decreases, the tax dollar is saved, and air quality is improved.
Economically mixed communities also provide a better quality of life for everyone. The city centers become more vibrant ant offer better opportunities as the resources of the community are reinvested in it. And rather than building via a system of development that emphasizes short term-profits, the long-term economic implications are weighed. A retail center developed ten miles from the city center may sit on less expensive land, but the communal cost of road construction, maintenance and gasoline, not to mention the commute time and air pollution, will be far greater.
Smart growth still relies on zoning laws, offering incentives for public transportation awareness, high-density design, or for the redevelopment of abandoned industrial or commercial facilities, otherwise known as brownfield or greyfield land. And like any zoning system, it has its detractions; opponents are generally offended by the implication that other zoning types are “un-smart.” Those who strongly favor detached homes argue that smart growth increases land value to the point where the average person can no longer afford a single-family house. Naturally, most supporters of smart growth contend that the cost of the suburban lifestyle on the greater community should be reflected within its cost.