Cities and Towns

New Jersey, along with states across the country, is confronting a public health threat: lead in drinking water. The primary source is lead service lines (LSLs), hose-sized pipes containing some amount of lead that connect water mains under the streets to buildings. But which communities are most at risk?

NJDOT’s new model complete and green streets policy and guide provides practical guidance for municipalities, counties, and agencies to improve roads and the overall landscape.

The Census Bureau’s municipal population estimates for 2018 show that redevelopment of older centers continues to be the way New Jersey is growing. However, not all areas are seeing this growth.

Even as population growth has moved back to compact, walkable places since 2008, job growth initially continued to occur in low-density suburban locations. The latest numbers from the state Department of Labor show that, starting in 2014, that trend has reversed.

New census county population estimates show older urban areas are continuing to revitalize. Some growth is even returning to New Jersey’s exurban areas.

In this report, New Jersey Future analyzed housing affordability in each New Jersey municipality, to see where households headed by someone 65 or older have high housing costs. The places where housing cost burden is greatest fall into two groups: towns that are expensive for everyone, and towns that are dominated by larger, single-family housing stock. December 2015.

In this report, New Jersey Future and Smart Growth America analyzed per-capita road usage. The results show that places with the highest activity density have the lowest per-capita usage, suggesting per-capita road-maintenance costs can be reduced by even marginal increases in density. November 2015.

An interim report, three years after Hurricane Sandy, on New Jersey Future’s groundbreaking local recovery planning manager program, including lessons learned and recommendations. October 2015.

An analysis of household income distributions in the neighborhoods around New Jersey’s transit stations shows that not all station areas offer the benefits of transit access across all income levels. June 2015.

The Economic Opportunity Act of 2013 included additional incentives for projects destined for “smart-growth” areas. This report analyzes how effective the updated incentives have been at directing growth to those areas. December 2014.