Arlington, Virginia, and Silver Spring, Maryland, are two cities in the rapidly growing Washington D.C. metro area that are bucking the trend of handling growth by sprawl and moving towards Smart Growth policies.
"Arlington's Clarendon Corridor is a model for Smart Growth. In the two-mile strip there are four Metro stops, major commuting roads have been diverted around the city center, and development is a mix of business and residential. Nearby Silver Spring, long stagnant, has finally entered renaissance following Smart Growth policies, but must overcome mass transit and traffic issues for fully-integrated solutions."
"'In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, Silver Spring was still dead' explains Gary Stith, director of the Silver Spring Regional Center. The turnaround came with aggressive Smart Growth policies following a 1998 Maryland statewide initiative."
"The heart of the revitalization is the new downtown that combines revitalized architecture with new buildings, fountains, restaurants and upscale shops. On weekends, people pour in from nearby Prince George's County, and the town center pulses with shoppers and live music."
FULL STORY: Smart Growth: A Tale of Two Cities in Maryland and Virginia
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