Working for Smart Growth:
More Livable Places and Open Spaces

 

Community Design

Community design focuses on the building blocks of the built environment — the buildings, roads, sidewalks, parking lots and public spaces – and relates them to each other and the natural environment: the streams, wetlands, lakes and hills.

There are many different ways of arranging these building blocks, and the quality of the design affects both how communities look and how they function.  Community design also determines the scale and character of communities and, perhaps most important, how the scale and character are experienced by the public.  At a time of heightened public sensitivity over issues affecting land development, such as density, good community design plays an increasingly important role in shaping places that are embraced as welcome additions to towns.

Future Facts
Highlands at Morristown Station
New Report Highlights Fiscal Benefits of Smart-Growth Development

A new report indicates that, regardless of the differences among municipalities, smart-growth-style development always provides a better return on public investment than traditional low-density development.

A damaged Casino Pier in Seaside Heights. Photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen/U.S. Air Force/New Jersey National Guard (Flickr) via Wikimedia Commons
Sandy Recovery Action Plan Doesn’t Commit to Resiliency Planning, Sustainability

Gov. Christie’s Sandy Recovery Action Plan doesn’t include funds, or a requirement, for long-term resiliency planning. Without those, New Jersey’s rebuilding efforts will not prepare the state sufficiently for the next major weather disaster.

Sandy aerial view slideshow
Concern Expressed Over Lack of Planning Funds in Sandy Recovery Action Plan

Concerns over Gov. Christie’s Sandy Recovery Action Plan include insufficient funds for planning, too little assistance for low-income renters.

Sources: Centers for Disease Control – National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey/U.S. DOT – Federal Highway Administration, Annual Vehicle Distance Traveled in Miles and Related Data
Incorporating Health Into All Policies

An effort to incorporate public health impacts into all policies can result in smarter transportation and local land-use planning.

Jackson Green in Jersey City. Source: GRO Architects via JCRA
Forum Roundup: Creative Housing Solutions for Changing Demographics

At this Redevelopment Forum session, speakers emphasized that changing demographics will mean municipalities will need to plan for changing housing needs.

Articles and Stories
Farmland in N. Hanover. Photo: Nicole Heater
Preserving Land through Market Real Estate Transactions

This report from New Jersey Future examines the use of non-contiguous clustering as a land-preservation tool in nine New Jersey municipalities. May 2012.

A damaged Casino Pier in Seaside Heights. Photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen/U.S. Air Force/New Jersey National Guard (Flickr) via Wikimedia Commons
Rebuilding A Resilient New Jersey Shore

The devastation from Hurricane Sandy created a wake-up call on the need to rebuild the Jersey shore in a way that respects nature and protects people, properties and public investments. Come hear expert speakers address key topics, and share your opinion on how we can restore a thriving, healthy and resilient coastal region.

A Complete Street in Red Bank
2013 Smart Growth Award Winners

Four innovative projects, two visionary plans and a statewide policy are winners of New Jersey Future’s 2013 Smart Growth Awards. Diane Sterner receives the Cary Edwards Leadership Award.

McGinley Square slideshow
2012 Smart Growth Award Winners

Two plans, an innovative zoning code, a feasibility study and three projects are winners of New Jersey Future’s 2012 Smart Growth Awards. Joseph M. Taylor receives the Cary Edwards Leadership Award.

New Jersey Future Op-Ed Button
In Targeting State Incentives, Location Matters

Jan. 13, 2013 — Two of the most successful and popular economic incentive programs – the Urban Transit Hub Tax Credit and the Economic Redevelopment and Growth program – are proposed to change. One of the strongest themes that run through these two programs is that they have powerful smart-growth location-based criteria that provide incentives for businesses to grow in places with the appropriate infrastructure and not in places with important environmental features or that will be more costly for the state.

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Reports, Presentations and Testimony

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