Over the last decade, renewed national emphasis has been directed to improving communities; planning officials added terms such as livable community and sustainable community to the vernacular of traditional coordinated land use planning. Smart Growth is one of the newer contemporary concepts for how communities are approaching anticipated expansion or renewal. Communities implementing Smart Growth strategies seek to efficiently use public and private resources to accommodate increases in population and employment, while positively addressing side-effects of growth, such as traffic congestion and air pollution and reduction in open space and farmland. Although ideas about how communities should grow encompass many disciplines and land use principles, discussions about wise, well-planned growth inevitably drift to transportation. Therefore, while transportation is not the only focus of Smart Growth, transportation components are at the core of the concept. Without the appropriate transportation background and infrastructure, Smart Growth principles could not be effective. This research examines Smart Growth initiatives in the US and compares experiences in selected Region VI communities. Included in the recommendation is focus on the appropriate role for transportation professionals in Smart Growth.
With growing interest in climate change and greater anticipation of energy cost increases, being sustainable has implications for the financial effici...
The Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area was historically known for agriculture and furniture manufacture, but now a high-tech, transportation-bas...
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving a Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (BTS)/National Transportation Library (NTL)
Web-based service.
Thank you for visiting.
You are about to access a non-government link outside of
the U.S. Department of Transportation's National
Transportation Library.
Please note: While links to Web sites outside of DOT are
offered for your convenience, when you exit DOT Web sites,
Federal privacy policy and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation
Act (accessibility requirements) no longer apply. In
addition, DOT does not attest to the accuracy, relevance,
timeliness or completeness of information provided by linked
sites. Linking to a Web site does not constitute an
endorsement by DOT of the sponsors of the site or the
products presented on the site. For more information, please
view DOT's Web site linking policy.
To get back to the page you were previously viewing, click
your Cancel button.