What is $mart Growth?
$mart Growth is metropolitan development that preserves community character, protects open space and the environment, strengthens the local economy, and uses taxpayer dollars efficiently. $mart Growth encourages compact, transit-oriented development, preserving valuable green space and minimizing adverse impacts on the environment, reducing costs for municipalities while improving the quality of life. $mart Growth recognizes that how buildings are built and where development takes place are factors that make development either a community asset or liability.
Examples of $mart Growth include designing communities to minimize energy use; providing transportation alternatives such as pedestrian walkways, light rail and mass transit options; or creating an eco-industrial park or co-locating commercial and industrial activities in the same areas to improve the walkability of communities.
What are Community and University Partnerships for $mart Growth?
These Partnerships are collaborations between educational institutions and communities or regions from across the country that are dedicated to implementing $mart Growth practices and fostering sustainable development. This project is designed to facilitate the sharing of existing resources, so that actions to implement $mart Growth can be more effectively coordinated for greater impact, and so that effective models can be identified, assessed, and publicized.
We want to foster the growth of interdisciplinary and applied research on community issues, and assist in the implementation of community based projects, while encouraging the systematic analysis of effectiveness and results.
Communities and researchers are stronger together than working in isolation, both have substantial skills and resources to bring to bear to the complex challenges involved in meeting the imperative for $mart Growth and Sustainable Development.
Many colleges and universities are currently partnering with community organizations: from private industry to non-profit organizations, from local and regional government to community development corporations. Through these innovative partnerships, applied research is conducted while meeting the pressing challenges faced by real people in real communities.
Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the close interrelationships between separate areas of expertise are more deeply investigated. The skills of designers, managers, educators, lawyers, economists, and experts in public health and social policy can all be brought to bear on coordinated research efforts around place based projects, to develop new processes and tools which support $mart Growth.
This project brings academics together with practitioners, to serve each other's mutual interests. When it is fully operational, this forum will provide a clearinghouse of information where researchers can share ideas and receive feedback from other leaders in this emerging multi-disciplinary field; where communities can track down access to resources or interested partners for new initiatives; and where students can find opportunities for internships or research tied directly to existing community needs.
Community and University Partnerships for
$mart Growth
Formerly called the University Consortium, this partnership has existed for several years between the Smart Growth Network in the EPA Office of Policy Development, and the NOAA Office of Sustainable Development at the Department of Commerce. Until now, the project has not had an active presence in communities. Both EPA and NOAA have recently dedicated a renewed commitment to this effort, however, and will be initiating more aggressive outreach and the implementation of new programs and services during the coming months. Currently there is no grant funding available through this project to support individual university and community collaborations.
How Will it Work?
The Consortium will provide an information clearing house for academic researchers seeking real-world test sites as well as for communities involved in applied sustainable development who are looking for assistance with specific research tasks. We have designed it to allow for incremental growth. It will begin as a match-making service, drawing on the $mart Growth Network database as well as the contacts of various academic and community partner organizations.
The first phase of the project, which is currently in development, involves the establishment of a searchable database that will be available free of charge through the World Wide Web to members of the $mart Growth Network as well as other community or university partners who wish to register.
In addition to this basic service, additional modules of the project will be developed over time based on demand and available resources. These additional functions are envisioned to include: funding sources and grant opportunities, offers of specific internships, sharing of programs and curricula on sustainable development and $mart Growth, and an interactive library of reports, studies and research results either in full text or through hyper links, to facilitate sharing between partners, opportunities for peer review, and exchange of innovative practices.
Find Out More!
The program is in a formative stage, so comments about the structure and objectives of the Partnership are welcome.
We are currently building the initial data base of projects, and will be launching the web site when sufficient projects and resources are catalogued. If you would like to participate in this project as a partner or express input on the design of service offerings, or simply would like to be included in our communications, please contact the Community and University Partnerships for $mart Growth through the following points of contact:
Contact Information
Communities, two- and four-year colleges and Universities currently pursuing interdisciplinary projects that utilize $mart Growth practices should contact:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Policy
Urban and Economic Development Division
Suzanne Giannini-Spohn (202/260-7568) or Karina Ricks (202/260-8760)
401 M St SW (2127)
Washington, DC 20460
Main # (202) 260-2750
www.smartgrowth.org
U.S. Department of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Office of Sustainable Development and
Intergovernmental Affairs
Bracken Hendricks (202/482-3604)
14th & Constitution Ave. N.W. Rm. 5222
Washington, DC 20230
Main # (202) 482-3384
www.susdev.noaa.gov
