Is The Era Of Smart Growth Over?

"We are truly at the cusp of the next big thing," said presenter Tim Chapin, a planning professor at Florida State. "We are living in a time when planners and economic development are much more together than they have been in, gosh, decades."

Shelley Poticha, head of the Office of Sustainable Communities at the Department of Housing & Urban Development, agreed that economic development is a vital part of the emerging new trend. "We need to turn this around to a place-based ED strategy that is very multi-layered," Poticha said. "Many communities we are working with had economies based on one or two strong sectors and one or both crashed. And so they don't have much to stand on." At the same time, she said, place-based strategies can strengthen downtowns and neighborhoods in a way that reinforces local businesses and allows wealth to stay and circulate in a community rather than leaving town.

They appeared on the first of three panels dealing with smart growth playing off articles in the current issue of the Journal of the American Planning Association.

Thanks to Bill Fulton