Community Development and Smart Growth: Would be Collaborators?

A new paper from the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities discusses some of the reasons why the community development and smart growth movements have not been natural collaborators in the past.

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At the same time, it points to areas of common interest that might serve as opportunities for future collaboration. The paper, Community Development and Smart Growth: Stopping Sprawl at its Source, points out that the community development movement has historically been focused on inner-city issues, while the attention of the smart growth movement has been on sprawling growth at the fringes.

Intersecting interests that are ripe for collaboration include:
1) connecting inner-city neighborhoods with regional transportation;

2) attracting business investment and jobs in inner-city neighborhoods; and

3) creating inviting communities with mixed-use development.

Kansas City’s Brush Creek Corridor is highlighted as a positive example of inner-city business development, while Winchester Greens in Richmond, Virginia is spotlighted for its community design.
http://www.fundersnetwork.org/usr_doc/Community_Development_and_Smart_Growth.pdf