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America's Favorite Farmers Market Contest
American Farmland Trust (AFT) is holding the first-ever America's Favorite Farmers Markets™ contest to raise national awareness about the importance of supporting fresh food from local farms and farmers.
Blueprint for America
Blueprint for America is a comprehensive community service program of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) initiated by AIA members in their local communities.
Brownfield to Parks Examples
Since the 1970's, The Trust for Public Land (TPL) has been helping to transform used land into gardens and parks. TPL has posted on its website recent examples -- snapshot portraits of communities where brownfields are giving way to gardens, parks, greenways and open space.
Building Community through Transportation
The overarching goal of Building Community through Transportation, a Project for Public Spaces (PPS) initiative, is to support Placemaking and transform federal, state, and metropolitan transportation policies and practice that currently prioritize moving people and goods over creating walkable, healthy and sustainable communities. This campaign is also focused on influencing the design of streets and transit facilities so they become assets and gathering places for civic life.
''Building Together'' Highlights
The Enterprise Foundation's 2004 Annual Network Conference, ''Building Together: Partnerships for Successful Community Development,'' examined how the community development industry can accomplish more for low-income families by strengthening relationships with current partners and reaching out to new ones.
Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism
The Charter of the New Urbanism is the guiding document of the new urbanist movement. Although it offers an encompassing vision of sustainable urbanism from the scale of the region to the block and building, three leading CNU members, including two who had a central role in drafting the original Charter, undertook an effort to clarify and detail the relationship between New Urbanism and sustainability. The resulting document, The Canons of Sustainable Architecture and Urbanism, is designed to serve as a set of operating principles for human settlement that reestablish the relationship between the art of building, the making of community, and the conservation of our natural world.
Energy Star Challenge
The ENERGY STAR Challenge is a national call-to-action to improve the energy efficiency of America's commercial and industrial buildings by 10 percent or more. Whether you're associated with a small school or a large corporation, a local government or a national association, a community hospital or a hotel group, a manufacturing plant or an architecture firm -- you can be part of the ENERGY STAR Challenge and help improve the energy efficiency of America's commercial and industrial buildings by 10 percent or more.
Environmental Law Institute's ''Sustainability and Resource Protection''
Environmental Law Institute uses sustainability as an organizing principle to develop new strategies for the protection of land, water, and
biological resources. ELI’s Sustainability and Resource Protection Programs improve our nation’s laws, policies, and
institutions. Integrating environmental laws, tax laws, development laws, and other tools. ELI works with state, local, and
federal agencies, citizen groups, non-profit organizations, and corporate partners to develop effective solutions to problems of
land and resource use.
EPA-NOAA Coastal Community Development Partnership
The EPA and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have agreed to work together to help coastal communities grow in ways that benefit the economy, public health, and the environment.
Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture
Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture from Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) defines sustainable agriculture by providing snapshots of different producers who apply sustainable principles on their farms and ranches.
Farming on the Edge
American Farmland Trust's Farming on the Edge conference brings together people from all across the country who want to create a sustainable future for America's working lands. It provides a forum for planners, land trusts, conservationists, farmers, ranchers and others to network and share their expertise and experience.
Institute for Comprehensive Community Development
The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development was established to advance the field of comprehensive community development and the positive impact it has in urban and rural communities across the country. This is done by:
- Building the capacity of community development practitioners;
- Providing on-site support and technical assistance to comprehensive community development initiatives in cities across the U.S.;
- Applying lessons learned through research and performance evaluation to continually improve on-going comprehensive community development initiatives and to develop new initiatives;
- Supporting the development of public policies which integrate government programs in order to effectively facilitate and support comprehensive community development;
- Communicating broadly the best there is in practice and theory in the field of community development.
The Institute is a place where the community development field can take what it learns from practice and use it as a base from which to provide training, to promote research in comprehensive community development, and to investigate the public policies that would best advance this work locally and nationally. The Institute is the locus where practice and theory meet, and where experimentation and innovation – grounded in real-world experience – flourish.
The Institute for Comprehensive Community Development is a venture of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).
LISC's New Communities Program -- Chicago
The New Communities Program (NCP) is a long-term initiative of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation/Chicago to support comprehensive community development in 16 Chicago neighborhoods. The five-year effort seeks to rejuvenate challenged communities, bolster those in danger of losing ground and preserve the diversity of areas in the path of gentrification.
Low Carbon Urbanism Campaign
Low Carbon Neighborhoods, High-Quality Living is an initiative from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) that emphasizes how neighborhoods are one of the best remedies for combating climate change.
Make Room for Parks: TPL's Parks for People Initiative
Make Room for Parks looks at the Trust for Public Land's (TPL's ) Parks for People initiative, a program that works in cities and suburbs across America to ensure that everyone -- in particular, every child -- enjoys access to a nearby park, playground, or natural area.
National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals' ''Smart Growth for Clean Water''
The ''Smart Growth for Clean Water'' project, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Forest Service, is helping states and localities use land conservation, watershed management, brownfields redevelopment, and other smart growth tools as key strategies for achieving water quality goals.
National Wildlife Federation's ''Smart Growth and Wildlife''
The National Wildlife Federation's Smart Growth and
Wildlife campaign is working across the US to protect and
restore species and habitats threatened by sprawl, by
promoting ''smart growth'' alternatives.
NRDC's Smarter Cities Rankings
Smarter Cities, a project of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), is a multimedia web initiative that provides a forum for exploring the progress that American cities are making in environmental stewardship and sustainable growth.
Place-Based Regional Collaboration Pilot
New York Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez announced on December 2 a new initiative, the Place-Based Regional Collaboration Pilot, which strengthens the partnership between New York State and the federal government to advance community revitalization. The Secretary was joined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation in making the announcement at the New Partners for Community Revitalization 2nd Annual Brownfields Forum. The announcement marks a new avenue of state-federal collaboration.
This announcement builds on and expands the Brownfields Smart Growth ''Spotlight Communities'' Initiative, announced last year by Governor David A. Paterson, which is a state-local partnership that capitalizes on commitments from existing state programs and resources to support the implementation of locally generated Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Plans to advance neighborhood revitalization. Brownfield Opportunity Area Plans use an area-wide approach, rather than the traditional site by site approach, to brownfield assessment and redevelopment. BOA enables communities to comprehensively assess existing economic and environmental conditions associated with brownfield blight and impacted areas, identify and prioritize community supported redevelopment opportunities, and to attract public and private investment to implement projects.
The Place-Based Regional Collaboration Pilot expands the partnership by involving three levels of government – local, state, and federal agencies – with community-based organizations. The partnership will enable important dialogue and collaboration with community leaders and will advance feasible projects through commitments of state and federal resources to achieve community revitalization. To launch the pilot, the Department of State and partner state and federal agencies will conduct a series of regional workshops over the next two years involving multiple communities that will focus on advancing feasible projects.
Planning Your Community's Future
The R/UDAT (pronounced ROO-dat) program is a grassroots approach to help create more livable communities that combines local resources with the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of nationally recognized professionals. The R/UDAT program is offered to communities as a public service of The American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Revitalizing Older Cities
The Northeast-Midwest Institute has embraced a new Revitalizing Older Cities Initiative. This initiative pulls from many of the long-standing policy issues associated with the Institute, including brownfields, urban food issues, energy, manufacturing, and environmental restoration policy.
Reviving America's Front Yard
Reviving America's Front Yard is the title of the American Society of Landscape Architects' webpages that report on the National Park Service's proposed plans for renovation and maintenance of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Smart Growth Leadership Summit RFIP
The U.S. EPA is seeking proposals from eligible organizations to develop and convene a prominent annual summit for key public officials and civic or private sector leaders who are noted pioneers in implementing the principles of smart growth.
Smart Growth Maryland Blog
SMART GROWTH MARYLAND is a blog written by members of the Maryland Department of Planning (MDP). The blog serves as a great forum for the exchange of ideas and news about Smart Growth, sustainable planning, livable communities, historic and land preservation and the like.
About the bloggers
Andrew Ratner is director of communications and education for the Maryland Department of Planning. During a 24-year career at the Baltimore Sun, he wrote about Smart Growth and blogging, so marrying the two seemed to make a lot of sense.
John Coleman is Public Information Officer for the Maryland Department of Planning. He has been with MDP for more than a decade.
Steve Allan has been with the Maryland Department of Planning for more than 10 years in various capacities, including as policy planner for infill and redevelopment, Smart Growth education and urban design. He now serves as education coordinator for the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System and planning commissioners.
Smart Growth Network Members Forum
The Smart Growth Network offers an online forum for members to discuss issues of interest and share ideas on smart growth efforts.
The Montana Legacy Project
The Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy have reached an agreement to purchase approximately 320,000 acres of western Montana forestland from Plum Creek Timber Company. This initiative, called the Montana Legacy Project, will keep forests in productive timber management and protect the area's clean water and abundant fish and wildlife habitat, while promoting continued public access to these lands for fishing, hiking, hunting and other recreational pursuits.
Top Ten Areas with Potential to Advance Smart Conservation
The Conservation Fund has identified America’s Top 10 Places with Potential to Advance Smart Conservation, providing national recognition to communities working to integrate land protection, development, infrastructure planning and smart growth.
Trails and Greenways Clearninghouse
The Trails and Greenways Clearninghouse provides technical assistance, information resources and referrals to trail and greenway advocates and developers across the nation.
Trust for Public Land's ''Greenprint for Growth''
Greenprint for Growth is TPL's effort to promote land
conservation as a smart growth strategy.
In 1999 and again in 2000, TPL singled out a half dozen
communities as models in using greenprint conservation.
Links to those ''Greenprint Galleries'' are found in this
section of TPL's website, along with other
conservation-for-smart-growth resources.
US EPA's ''Encouraging Smart Growth''
Are you looking for policy options that can make
smart growth happen in your community? The
Smart Growth Policy Database
may be able to help. This catalog contains
information on more than 225 policies and actions that municipalities,
counties, regions and states are undertaking to achieve smart growth
outcomes.
Walking and Bicycling to School Presentation
Walking and Bicycling to School: Community Presentation is a PowerPoint presentation featuring information that may be presented to a neighborhood, school, or community to increase knowledge and interest in participating in a Walk and Bicycle to School program.
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