Evaluating Smart Growth (Policy Focus Report)

State and Local Policy Outcomes

Author(s): Ingram, Gregory K., and Yu-Hung Hong
Publication Date: June 2009

$15.00; 44 pages; Inventory ID PF020; English; Paperback; ISBN 978-1-55844-193-4

FREE DOWNLOADS BELOW

PURCHASE PRINT EDITION


Evaluating Smart Growth	PDF	3.39 MB

Abstract

As smart growth programs in some states approach their fourth decade, new climate change concerns have raised the stakes on their success in managing urban development. This is an opportune time to evaluate the effectiveness of smart growth programs in achieving their goals, and the implications for future land use planning by state and local policy makers.

The policy focus report, Evaluating Smart Growth, complements a larger volume that compares four states with smart growth programs (Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, and Oregon) and four other states without such programs (Colorado, Indiana, Texas, and Virginia).

The analysis reveals that community planning programs vary greatly across the four smart growth states, producing a range of outcomes that overlap with some of those in the other states. Outcomes and policies were found to be more continuous across the eight states rather than dichotomous between the two groups of states.

This report is a summary of the conclusions and recommendations in the volume Smart Growth Policies: An Evaluation of Programs and Outcomes.