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| Arabia and Smart GrowTH Article |
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"Community leaders have long known that a healthy community is a growing community. Population growth and economic growth go hand in glove. In the past, this connection led most local governments to conclude that growth was a good thing in itself, and that nearly any kind of growth had value to a community.
Slowly, as the consequences of unregulated growth have become clearer, there has been a movement to put limits on how development should proceed. Zoning rules, for example, have been adopted nearly everywhere. These rules sought to enforce what may seem like common sense conclusions that a community will be better off if certain kinds of hazards, noise, smells or traffic could be kept segregated from our homes and schools. Zoning and land use rules have increasingly been seen as a tool to engineer communities which have the look and feel that we think we want.
Unfortunately, as the population of our cities has swelled, what we thought was an ideal way of living for example, a single family house on a cul-de-sac with a nice green lawn, has turned out to have its problems. More and more, we are finding that while the house is great, it is an island in a rising sea of traffic, smog and loneliness.
Many of the ideas behind the "Smart Growth" movement are essentially updates on earlier urban models. The movement seeks to find ways of creating living environments that better meet our needs in growing, metropolitan communities. The questions now are the same as they always were. What makes us happy? What satisfies our need for community and connectedness to other people? What is the environment that makes sense for our families and children? But Smart Growth thinking adds to this, from the very beginning, an element that is new. Always in the equation is the recognition that natural resources are both limited and irreplaceable. Smart Growth recognizes that there is a critical balance to be struck between creating an environment that we like and creating an environment that is sustainable.
While no single model for Smart Growth development fits everywhere, certain ideas seem universal. For example, advocates routinely support efforts to encourage recycling of once- developed properties that are not now being fully utilized. This reuse of land reduces the pressure to disturb pristine environments. Similarly, many in the Smart Growth camp argue that the preservation of "green space" and sensitivity to environmental degradation must be a goal whenever development is being planned. Incorporating these elements into a communal design creates an environment that is not only more pleasurable for people, it offers a key to keeping the human environment and the natural environment in long-term balance.
If Smart Growth seeks to do anything, it is to reestablish this balance, not only with the environment but with each other. Smart Growth seeks to develop communities that are family friendly, that are safe and clean and pleasant, that encourage pedestrian outings rather than short trips in our cars, that provide options for commuting that pollute less and that are shorter overall, that incorporate a respect for nature into our everyday experience.
By doing these things, Smart Growth advocates suggest that we will reap substantial benefits. Not the least of these is that "quality of life," that elusive measure of a community's health and happiness, will go sky high.
Chambers of Commerce and local leaders are recognizing that no single factor matters more than "quality of life" in bringing new growth to their communities. Particularly in an our increasingly competitive economic environment, where municipal leaders are struggling to ensure that their community's growth continues, Smart Growth momentum is building. Incorporating these values into planning is being seen, more and more, as a hedge against cities smothering in their own success."
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