Smart Growth

"Governor Glendening and Partners for Livable Communities understand the relationship between livable, walkable places and economic prosperity. Smart growth results in places and regions with more housing and transportation choices, better access to shops and schools and a healthy environment. These are the neighborhoods—whether urban, rural or suburban—where people and businesses want to be. They attract new jobs and hold on to them over time as well as maintaining a higher level of housing and property values (Governor Parris N. Glendening).”

Real Estate may save us after all, say strategists Christopher Leinberger and Patrick Doherty, but only if it responds to a growing demand for walkable, dynamic neighborhoods.  Real estate represents 35% of our economy’s asset base, so its recovery is essential to the country’s “economic renaissance.”  However, write Leinberger and Doherty in a recent article, changing housing preferences driven by Millennials and aging baby boomers will make that recovery look quite different than previous decades:

In the fight for livability, sometimes advocates can forget about those who are happily living in environments that others would deem “unlivable”: sprawling, car-dependent suburbs. If it’s all about making our lives more livable, “shouldn’t we be able to choose the sprawling suburbs if we want to?” asked a participant at the Partners’ “Building Livable Communities” Forum in September 2010. Well, yes, replied the panelists, but it’s not that easy. “Choosing” sprawl is not always the free choice that many believe it to be.

Bridge Builders Award

For the Initiative’s innovative approach to creating sustainable cities through the cross-disciplinary engagement of scholars, community leaders, and project partners.

Investors in America Award

For his influential work in developing new approaches to urban redevelopment, suburban growth and regional planning.