The Fiscal Impacts of Smart Growth

Municipal governments across North America face a growing structural fiscal challenge, caught between stagnant or slow-growing revenue and rising service delivery costs. In this environment, the long-term financial consequences of land use decisions have become critically important. This report addresses the persistent disconnect between municipal land use planning and fiscal management, investigating the proposition that Smart Growth—the development of compact, mixed-use, and walkable communities—can be a powerful tool for improving municipal financial health. The study moves beyond abstract principles to provide empirical evidence on how specific smart growth projects perform fiscally, transforming underutilized and fiscally inefficient land into productive assets for their host cities.