Natchez, Mississippi has never been connected to the interstate highway system. But today, with help from Smart Growth America, the city is revitalizing its historic downtown and also working to connect to the rest of the world through a newer medium: high-speed, broadband internet.
Atmore—a rural city in southern Alabama—is poised to make some key land use decisions that will have a great impact on both its long-term economic prosperity and its fiscal health. To grapple with these choices, the city partnered with Smart Growth America to gain a better understand their impact.
In 2019 and 2020, we will partner with six rural communities—including return visits to two places we worked with in the past—to deliver technical assistance workshops aimed at tackling their specific economic, fiscal, and housing needs to help them prosper.
A former manufacturing city northwest of Boston has renewed its focus on its downtown, leveraging partnerships with the local state university and utilizing its current stock of historic buildings to generate an economic resurgence.
A regional planning commission in Wisconsin wanted to develop a regional Complete Streets policy as a tool to encourage its local jurisdictions to do the same. Partnering with Smart Growth America helped bolster their efforts, offering policy development strategies and fostering local discussions around Complete Streets.
Sitka, Alaska has struggled with housing affordability and a zoning code which no longer reflects the reality it faces. With help from Smart Growth America, it has identified changes to its zoning code and adopted a comprehensive plan that will help change its course.
Tulsa, Oklahoma worked with Smart Growth America to implement parts of the city’s comprehensive plan and better understand how development decisions made today will impact its budget decades into the future.
A workshop and analysis of future development from Smart Growth America helped Chattanooga, TN see how it can best direct its resources to have the greatest benefits for the city and its residents.
To help it create a more sustainable community, this inner suburb of Detroit sought a zoning code audit from Smart Growth America and Clarion Associates. The audit focused on stormwater management, green infrastructure, and housing diversity. Since the audit, Royal Oak has made significant progress around its land use and sustainability goals.
The small Colorado town of Pagosa Springs is focused on revitalizing its downtown and supporting more mixed-use, walkable development to both address a lack of affordable housing and accommodate a large volume of tourists. There are a number of opportunities to make progress in the near-term, including turning a recent disaster in the downtown into a catalytic redevelopment opportunity.