Land use and zoning

$33 Million Investment is Foundation’s Largest Investment in Community-Based Solutions to Prevent Childhood Obesity

A collection of tools to help guide participatory planning tools.

This Guidebook will help communities implement designs for streets that are safe, efficient and aesthetically pleasing for both people and cars.

A resource for state and local officials interested in a range of ideas and models for managing growth. Includes an index of growth management documents and resources by state.

Actions undertaken by states, regions and localities to achieve smart growth are not always easy to learn about, nor are examples immediately available. This database highlights numerous policies and programs that states and localities nationwide have implemented to further smart growth. The policies in this database represent a variety of approaches ranging from formal legislative or regulatory efforts to informal approaches, plans, and programs.

Smart Growth America is a nationwide coalition promoting a better way to grow: one that protects open space, revitalizes neighborhoods, keeps housing affordable, and provides more transportation choices.

This report uses a sophisticated new index of sprawling metropolitan areas that quantifies how sprawl is linked to a variety of common concerns, from highway deaths to traffic. The new Index, created by researchers at Rutgers and Cornell University, issues five sprawl 'scores' for each metropolitan area that show how badly they sprawl in terms of spreading out housing, segregating homes from other uses, failing to develop strong centers, and building poorly connected street networks. The scores are based on dozens of statistics from national databases and represent the most comprehensive, academically rigorous ranking of sprawl in the United States. The study uses the Index to correlate the degree of sprawl to community impacts. This represents the first comprehensive, academically rigorous ranking of sprawl in the United States.

This database website, developed by PlaceMatters.com, is a resource for communities to identify technical tools and processes for better community design and decision making.

A resource serving as a roadmap for states and communities that have recognized the need for smart growth, but are unclear on how to achieve it. The document provides ten policy options to achieve each of the ten Smart Growth principles endorsed by the Smart Growth Network.

The American Planning Association brings together thousands of people - practicing planners, citizens, elected officials - committed to making great communities happen. APA is a nonprofit public interest and research organization committed to urban, suburban, regional, and rural planning. APA and its professional institute, the American Institute of Certified Planners, advance the art and science of planning to meet the needs of people and society.