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Findings
Economic Benefits: Real-world Snapshot
- Creating a range of housing opportunities in proximity to jobs saves households
money. Washington DC region households living in the jobs-rich core spent about
30% of their income on housing and transportation, while those in the
car-dependent outer suburbs spent over 40%.
- Improving neighborhood “walkability” enhances property values. WalkScore.com
rates locations according to a walkability index from 1 to 100. One study found
that, in general, every one-point increase in a home’s Walk Score raised its
value by $700 to $3,000.
- Walkability also enhances health. In Seattle, a 5% increase in the overall level
of walkability was linked to a 32% increase in minutes of walking or biking and
a reduction in Body Mass Index.
- Creating a range of transportation options can increase property values,
investment and jobs. In Denver, homes within a half mile of stations on the
Southeast light rail line rose in value an average of 17.6% between 2006 and
2008; other Denver homes declined by an average 7.5%. American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act investments in public transportation created almost twice as
many jobs per billion dollars invested as highway projects – 16,419 vs. 8,781
job-months. A $100 million investment in Portland streetcars helped attract $3.5
billion in private investment.
- Directing development towards existing communities can reduce infrastructure
costs. Sacramento calculated the infrastructure price tag of their Blueprint
Smart Growth scenario to be $9 billion less than conventional development.
- Building within a smaller footprint can reduce water use and improve storm water
runoff management. A 2006 EPA report found that in a compact subdivision in
Sacramento, California, water demand was 20-30% less than conventional
subdivisions in the same city.
- Reducing the need to drive saves big money. The Vision California project
calculated that a “green” compact growth scenario could save California
residents $8,600 in driving related costs per household by the year 2050, or
more than $170 billion annually statewide.
Conclusions
The preponderance of the evidence leads us to conclude that smart-growth strategies can help communities, businesses and individuals make money, save money and enhance quality of life. An approach to development and urban design that encourages travel efficiency and improves accessibility while also providing more housing and travel options is not an experiment that will harm the economy. Rather, these are time-tested principles that provide multiple economic and quality-of-life benefits while helping to ensure that natural systems can sustain life and human health.
These planning and design concepts, and the policies to support them, can help
to create communities where people not only can find the homes, neighborhoods
and lifestyles they desire, but also accomplish more with less time, energy and
investment per person. People can save money while also reducing greenhouse gas
emissions. Developing in ways that provide amenities people want – parks and
open space, walkable neighborhoods and plentiful housing and transportation
choices – attracts residents and businesses, maximizing public investments while
creating opportunities for the private sector. Opening up the planning process
to include more people in evaluating the big picture makes for smarter and more
predictable decision-making, while empowering stakeholders to make decisions
that will affect their lives now and long into the future.
Even under optimistic assumptions about the progress of motor vehicle
technology, we cannot meet targets for mitigating global climate disruption –
nor achieve energy security – without also finding a way to accomplish more
while driving less. Achieving the required 9% reduction in per capita VMT might
happen on its own, involuntarily, if we find ourselves subjected to
stratospheric fuel prices. Or we could reach the target over time by choice, as
accessible, travel-efficient communities become more prevalent. While the former
would have serious effects on our economy, the latter can lead to new jobs,
consumer savings and improved quality of life.
Each individual principle of smart growth on its own provides a mechanism for
development to have a positive economic impact. We have presented a number of
examples in this report and there are many more in the appendix. Yet the
holistic urban fabric that arises when all the principles are invoked should be
our ultimate goal.
Understanding how to design urban forms for the 21st century that address the
multiple goals of economy, environment and equal opportunity is a challenge that
we can meet head on. The opportunity is here to build upon our knowledge of
successful places and create more of them. Success begets success. It is our
hope that Growing Wealthier will aid policymakers, planners, developers and
citizens in creating more prosperous communities while conserving financial and
natural resources.
There are many steps we must take to ensure that our children inherit a planet
and an economy with a bright future. Investing the time and money to grow our
communities to be more resilient, more efficient and more satisfying to the soul
surely offers a tremendous payoff.
Recommendations
- Do. Measure. Learn. To realize the full prosperity
benefits of smart growth, we need incentive-based policy programs centered on
the themes of action, measurement, and analysis.
- Equip and Empower. Transportation practitioners need
new tools and technical assistance to enhance their ability to implement and
evaluate smart growth and travel efficiency policies and their economic impacts.
This would be an important role for federal agencies, such as US DOT.
- Do More Get More. Government programs should reward
communities that make efficient use of resources to promote economic and
environmental sustainability.
- Empirical Research. There is a solid foundation of
research on the economic effects of smart growth but much remains to learn. The
federal government should increase funding for such research and provide support
for evaluating pilot projects and innovative policies.
- Ask the Sustainability Question. Ask ourselves,
“Does this infrastructure or land development decision promote long-term
environmental and economic health in an equitable way?”
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