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.
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.
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.
Concerns over Gov. Christie’s Sandy Recovery Action Plan include insufficient funds for planning, too little assistance for low-income renters.
An effort to incorporate public health impacts into all policies can result in smarter transportation and local land-use planning.
At this Redevelopment Forum session, speakers emphasized that changing demographics will mean municipalities will need to plan for changing housing needs.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
See all Future Facts and Articles in this category »
Reports, Presentations and Testimony
- 3/11/2013: Economic Investments Strategically and Avoid Subsidizing Sprawl
- Cluster bill - summary of key provisions
- Cluster-development-bill-overview-with-supporters
- How Clustering Works
- Cluster-Development-Bill-Overview-11-12
- 05-2009 Smart Housing Incentives Act - Summary
- 03/31/2011: Letter Supporting Vertical GDP Bill after Conditional Veto
- 04/02/2012: NJFuture Comments to State Planning Commission on Draft State Strategic Plan
- 04/25/2013: A3680 Economic Opportunity Act
- 04/29/2013: Sandy Recovery Action Plan Doesn't Commit to Resiliency Planning, Sustainability
- Land Use Trends NJPHA 2011
- Financial Benefits of Density in Two New Jersey Downtowns 7-11 (Intern report)
- DFatton Land Use Trends APA-NJ 11-4-2011
- complete-streets-report-FINAL-web
- 12-14-2010 Testimony on Historic Property Reinvestment Act
- 05-18-2009 Testimony on Smart Housing Incentives Act
- Climate Change and Land Use 10-08
- Smart Growth: The Basics 10-03
