Smart Growth America

Smart Growth Coalition

The American Planning Association has joined 60 other public interest groups across the United States to form Smart Growth America. This coalition will advocate better growth policies and practices at local, state, and federal levels to promote farmland and open space protection, neighborhood revitalization, affordable housing, and livable communities.

Smart Growth America was officially launched on October 16, 2000, at a National Press Club event in Washington, D.C. On that occasion, the coalition released the results of a poll it commissioned on Americans’ attitudes towards sprawl and smart growth issues.

Conducted in September 2000, the survey reveals that 78 percent of Americans support policies to curb sprawl. More than 80 percent of respondents think government should give priority to maintaining services and infrastructure in established communities before subsidizing new sprawl. More than 80 percent also favor more cooperation on growth management among local governments, creating zones for green space and farmland, and tax incentives to renovate older houses and revitalize economically depressed neighborhoods. The poll also shows rapid growth in the use of public transportation, strong voter support for smart growth ballot measures, and increased demand for housing in cities and close-in suburbs.

Results of the survey and additional information on smart growth issues and resources are featured in a 24-page booklet from the coalition: Greetings from Smart Growth America. The report is available online as well as from the coalition’s office:

Smart Growth America
1100 17th Street NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-974-5132
Fax: 202-466-2247
sga@transact.org

Don Chen, Smart Growth Program Director for the Surface Transportation Policy Project, serves as Director of Smart Growth America. Jeff Soule, AICP, Director of Policy for the American Planning Association, represents APA on the coalition.

Steering Committee

Carl Anthony, Executive Director, Urban Habitat Program

Kaid Benfield, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council

Jacky Grimshaw, Transportation & Air Quality Coordinator, Center for Neighborhood Technology

Judith Bell, Vice President, PolicyLink

Robert Bullard, Executive Director, Environmental Justice Resource Center

Ernest Cook, Senior Vice President, Trust for Public Land

Hank Dittmar, President, Great American Station Foundation

Bill Dodge, Executive Director, National Association of Regional Councils

Lee Epstein, Lands Program Director, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Ned Farquhar, President, Growth Management Leadership Alliance

Ralph Grossi, President, American Farmland Trust

Roy Kienitz, Chair, Executive Director, Surface Transportation Policy Project

John Kostyack, Director, Smart Growth Program, National Wildlife Federation

Meg Maguire, President, Scenic America

Ed McMahon, Program Director, The Conservation Fund

Richard Moe, President, National Trust for Historic Preservation

Shelly Poticha, Executive Director, Congress for the New Urbanism

Kristin Siglin, Senior Vice President, The Enterprise Foundation

Harriet Tregoning, Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning

Betty Weiss, Executive Director, National Neighborhood Coalition

Carol Werner, Executive Director, Environmental & Energy Study Institute

In addition to the American Planning Association, Smart Growth America includes the following Partner Organizations:

1000 Friends of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN)
1000 Friends of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM)
Affordable Housing Development Corporation (Katonah, NY)
Alliance for Transportation Research Institute (Albuquerque, NM)
American Rivers (Washington, DC)
Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (Tucson, AZ)
Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (Madison, WI)
Biodiversity Project (Madison, WI)
Center for Community Change (Washington, DC)
Citizens for Sensible Transportation (Portland, OR)
Colorado Public Research Interest Group (Denver, CO)
Conservation Law Foundation (New England)
EcoCity Cleveland (Cleveland, OH)
Environmental Defense (Washington, DC)
Fort Worth Alliance for Responsible Development (Fort Worth, TX)
Friends of the Earth (Washington, DC)
Good Jobs First (Washington, DC)
Grow Smart Rhode Island (Providence, RI)
Gulf Coast Institute, Houston, TX
Idaho Smart Growth (Boise, ID)
Land Trust Alliance (Washington, DC)
Livable Anchorage Project (Anchorage, AK)
Local Government Commission (Sacramento, CA)
Metropolitan Planning Council (Chicago, IL)
Michigan Land Use Institute (Traverse City, MI)
National Center for Bicycling & Walking (Washington, DC)
National Low-Income Housing Coalition (Washington, DC)
New Jersey Future (Trenton, NJ)
North Carolina Smart Growth Alliance (Charlotte, NC)
Openlands Project (Chicago, IL)
Perils for Pedestrians, (Bethesda, MD)
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy (Washington, DC)
Sierra Club (national and many state chapters)
SUSTAIN (Chicago, IL)
South Carolina Coastal Conservation League (Charleston, SC)
Southern Environmental Law Center (Charlottesville, VA)
Sprawl Watch Clearinghouse (Washington, DC)
TransTexas Alliance (Austin, TX)
U.S. Public Research Interest Group (national)
Upstate Forever (Greenville, SC)
Vermont Forum on Sprawl (Burlington, VT)