Getting Smart With Mr. Grow

Meet Robert J. Grow, a lawyer, industrialist, Salt Lake City native and one of the most effective social activists in America. Mr. Grow co-founded Envision Utah to inform the region that its population would soon enough triple to five million people and that citizens had to decide how to accommodate explosive growth while making their communities more beautiful, prosperous, economical, and neighborly.

"Envision Utah is now recognized as one of the most successful, broad-based, long-term growth strategies for a major U.S. metropolitan area. The project has put the Salt Lake City region at the forefront of the Smart Growth movement, joining Portland, Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle, Dallas, Charleston, Chicago, and Grand Rapids as metropolitan areas that developed planning programs that produced results. Envision Utah has won the planning equivalent of four Oscars—the Urban Land Institute’s Award for Excellence, the Alliance for Regional Stewardship’s Gold Recognition Award, the American Planning Association’s Daniel Burnham Award, and the American Public Transportation Association’s Distinguished Service Award."