SMART GROWTHTOWN PLANNING

1AR. JAM ZEESHAN ALI

Smart growth

smart growth is an urban planning and

transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walk able urban centers to avoid sprawl. Smart growth values long-range, regional considerations of sustainability over a short-term focus. Its goals are to achieve a unique sense of community and place; expand the range of transportation, employment, and housing choices; preserve and enhance natural and cultural resources; and promote public health.

2AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI

BASIC PRINCIPLES

There are 10 accepted principles that define Smart Growth

Mix land uses

Take advantage of compact building design

Create a range of housing opportunities and choices

Create walk able neighborhoods

Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place

Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas

Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities

Provide a variety of transportation choices

Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective

Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions

3AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI

SMART GROWTH

There are a range of best practices associated with smart Growth, these include: supporting existing communities, redeveloping underutilized sites, enhancing economic competitiveness, providing more transportation choices, developing livability measures and tools, promoting equitable and affordable housing, providing a vision for sustainable growth, enhancing integrated planning and investment, aligning, coordinating, and leveraging government polices.

4AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI

SMART GROWTH

Rationale for smart growth Smart growth is an alternative to urban sprawl, traffic

congestion, disconnected neighborhoods, and urban decay. Its principles challenge old assumptions in urban planning, such as the value of detached houses and automobile use.

Environmental protection

• Environmentalists promote Smart Growth by advocating urban-growth boundaries, or Green belts, as they have been termed in England since the 1930s.

Public health

Transit-oriented development can improve the quality of life and encourage a healthier, pedestrian-based lifestyle with less pollution.

5AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI

SMART GROWTH

Elements

Compact neighborhoods

Compact, livable urban neighborhoods attract

more people and business.

mixed-use development

inclusion of affordable housing

restrictions or limitations on suburban design

forms (e.g., detached houses on individual lots,

strip malls and surface parking lots)

inclusion of parks and recreation areas.

6AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI

SMART GROWTH

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is a residential or

commercial area designed to maximize access to public

transport, and mixed-use/compact neighborhoods

Transportation Demand Management measures

road pricing system (tolling)

commercial parking taxes

end to use transit at all times of the day.

Pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly design

Biking and walking instead of driving can reduce

emissions, save money on fuel and maintenance, and

foster a healthier population.

7AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI

SMART GROWTH

Policy tools

Zoning ordinances

The most widely used tool for achieving smart

growth is the local zoning law. Through zoning,

new development can be restricted to specific areas,

and additional density incentives can be offered for

brownfield and greyfield land. Zoning can also

reduce the minimum amount of parking required to

be built with new development, and can be used to

require set-asides for parks and other community

amenities.

8AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI

Environmental impact

assessments

One popular approach to assist in smart growth in democratic countries is for law-makers to require prospective developers to prepare environmental impact assessments of their plans as a condition for state and/or local governments to give them permission to build their buildings.

In communities practicing these smart growth policies, developers comply with local codes and requirements. Consequently, developer compliance builds communal trust because it demonstrates a genuine interest in the environmental quality of the community.

9AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI

Smart growth, urban sprawl

and automobile dependency

Whether smart growth (or the 'Compact City') does or can reduce problems of automobile dependencyassociated with urban sprawl have been fiercely contested issues over several decades.

One confounding factor, which has been the subject of many studies, is residential self-selection: people who prefer to drive tend to move towards low density suburbs, whereas people who prefer to walk, cycle or use transit tend to move towards higher density urban areas, better served by public transport. Some studies have found that, when self-selection is controlled for, the built environment has no significant effect on travel behavior.

10AR JAM ZEESHAN ALI