Ebook SMART GROWTH is Smart Business
A cross America, communities are grappling with the economic, environmental, and civic impacts of sprawl, including traffic congestion, crowded schools, pollution, loss of open space, and decaying infrastructure. Community leaders and local government officials have been on the front line, trying to manage the enormous changes affecting their hometowns. Many local officials have discovered that strong partnerships with the private sector, particularly with businesses that are promoting “smart growth” alternatives to sprawl, can be critical to addressing the challenges of sprawling development.
The National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP) and the Smart Growth Leadership Institute partnered to produce this report, Smart Growth is Smart Business. The report profiles 17 businesses and business groups that are putting smart growth into action in communities across the nation. It outlines the reasons why these business leaders are supporting smart growth policies and projects, and it puts forth five key smart growth business approaches.
Smart Growth is Smart Business follows a study originally published by NALGEP in 1999, Profiles of Business Leadership on Smart Growth: New Partnerships Demonstrate the Economic Benefits of Reducing Sprawl. This ground breaking work profiled how business leaders such as Providence Energy, the Greater Cleveland Growth Association, and the Commercial Club of Chicago, were beginning to take steps in their communities to curb sprawl and promote smart growth in their communities. Citing a number of significant ways sprawl is undercutting business profitability and competitiveness, the study identified the beginnings of a major attitude shift in the business community away from resisting growth control initiatives and toward supporting efforts to channel the pattern and character of local economic development. That study identified 19 examples of businesses across the country that were addressing the threat of sprawl, and it examined how and why they were championing smart growth locally. One thread was found throughout the case studies businesses weretaking action on smart growth because it was good for business, that is, good for their bottom line.
In this new study, Smart Growth is Smart Business, NALGEP and the Smart Growth Leadership Institute sought to determine whether the private sector’s interest in smart growth had increased or whether it was merely a passing fad. We wanted to learn whether business leaders would still promote smart growth during times of economic downturn, declining profits, and downsizing. We sought to identify additional successful and profitable businesses that brought vitality and prosperity to their communities. We expanded our Advisory Council of business and local government leaders. We conducted substantial research to identify new businesses engaged in smart growth, and we interviewed a broad cross section of business leaders, including manufacturers, developers, retailers, real estate professionals, utilities, and financial institutions.
Contents
- Introduction
The Costs of Sprawl
Business Strategies for Smart Growth
Profiles of Business Leadership on Smart Growth
Bank of America: Commitment to Community Development
The Bay Area Council: Funding Fiscally Sustainable Growth
BellSouth: Metro Consolidation Enhances Employee Productivity
Envision Utah: Quality Growth Plan Moves into Action
Johnson Development Corporation: Investment in
Inner Cities Scores Big
Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce: CEOs Lay Tracks
for Smart Growth Transportation Planning
New Jersey Natural Gas: Providing Smart Growth Infrastructure
ShoreBank Corporation: Shoring Up Underserved Communities
Sierra Business Council: Growing Jobs and Communities
in Rural America
Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group: Affordable Housing
Critical to Regional Economic Growth
Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, Inc.: Tapping Benefits
of the Smart Growth Movement
Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce: Charting New
Designs for Growth in Michigan Communities
Vermont Business Roundtable: CEOs Boost the Benefits
of Managed Growth
Whole Foods Market: Growing Healthy Communities and Lifestyles
Wisconsin Realtors Association: Building Better Communities
Helps Sell Homes
Zipcar and Flexcar: Car Sharing Capitalizes on the Urban Lifestyle
Smart Growth Resources
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