SERA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA 231-K-10-005
February 2013
www.epa.gov/smartgrowth
www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice
CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES:
Strategies for Advancing Smart Growth, EnvironmentalJustice,
and Equitable Development
Office of Sustainable Communities
Office of Environmental Justice
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Acknowledgments
This publication was prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Sustainable
Communities and Office of Environmental Justice with the assistance of Skeo Solutions.
Principal author: Megan McConville, Policy and Planning Fellow, Office of Sustainable Communities
Contributors and reviewers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:
Heather Case, Office of Environmental Justice
Susan Conbere, Office of Sustainable Communities
Bicky Corman, Office of Policy
John Frece, Office of Sustainable Communities
Lisa Garcia, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Michael Goo, Office of Policy
Jen Horton, Fellow, Office of Sustainable Communities
Daniel Hutch, Office of Sustainable Communities
Charles Lee, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance
Suzi Ruhl, Office of Environmental Justice
Megan Susman, Office of Sustainable Communities
EPA also wishes to acknowledge the reviewers who provided feedback on this document through the
two public comment processes conducted in 2012. In response to these two comment solicitations, EPA
received a total of approximately 100 pages of comments from 40 respondents including representatives of
nonprofit organizations, universities, community development corporations, federal and local governments,
regional councils, and businesses. Where appropriate, this input was incorporated into the publication.
Cover photos
Top: Fruitvale, East Oakland, California, photo courtesy of the Unity Council.
Bottom row, left to right: Lincoln, Nebraska, photo courtesy ofwww.pedbikeimages.org/Dan Burden;
Northwest Gardens, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, photo courtesy of Fernando Lezcano; Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo,
New Mexico, photo courtesy of San Juan Pueblo Office of the Governor.
Back cover photos
Top: New Columbia, Portland, Oregon, photo courtesy of the Housing Authority of Portland.
Bottom row, left to right: Gary, Indiana, photo courtesy ofCarlton Eley; High Point, Seattle, Washington,
photo courtesy of Seattle Housing Authority; Edmonston, Maryland, photo courtesy of Skeo Solutions.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Table of Contents
Executive Summary i
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
Chapter 2: Challenges to Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities 7
Chapter 3: Strategies Linking Smart Growth, Environmental Justice, and Equitable Development 13
Facilitate Meaningful Community Engagement in Planning and Land Use Decisions 17
Conduct Multilingual Outreach 18
Conduct Community Assessments 21
Hold Community Planning and Visioning Workshops 22
Promote Public Health and a Clean and Safe Environment 23
Reduce Exposure to Facilities with Potential Environmental Concerns 23
Reduce Exposure to Goods Movement Activities 26
Clean and Reuse Contaminated Properties 28
Promote Green Building 32
Build Green Streets 33
Strengthen Existing Communities 36
Fix Existing Infrastructure First 37
Reuse Vacant and Abandoned Properties 37
Redevelop Commercial Corridors 38
Provide Housing Choices 41
Preserve Affordable Housing 42
Create New Affordable Housing 43
Provide Transportation Options 47
Provide Access to Public Transportation 48
Implement Equitable Transit-Oriented Development 49
Improve Access to Opportunities and Daily Necessities 54
Promote Diverse, Community-Centered Schools 54
Create Safe Routes to School 56
Provide Access to Healthy Food 57
Provide Access to Parks and Green Space 59
Preserve and Build On the Features that Make a Community Distinctive 61
Preserve Existing Cultural Features 61
Create New Development that Strengthens Local Culture 63
Chapter 4: Conclusion 67
Resource Guide 70
Case Study References 76
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Executive Summary
Communities across the country are integrating
smart growth, environmental justice, and
equitable development approaches to design
and build healthy, sustainable, and inclusive
neighborhoods. Overburdened communities
are using smart growth strategies to address
longstanding environmental and health
challenges and create new opportunities
where they live. Regional and local planners
are engaging low-income, minority, and tribal
residents in decision-making and producing
more enduring development that is better for
people and the environment. Community groups,
government agencies, and private and nonprofit
partners are cleaning up and investing in existing
neighborhoods, providing affordable housing and
transportation options, and improving access to
critical services and amenities.
This informational publication aims to build
on past successes and offer other low-income,
minority, tribal, and overburdened communities
approaches to shape development that responds
to their needs and reflects their values. It
identifies strategies that bring together smart
growth, environmental justice, and equitable
development principles and that community-
based organizations, local and regional decision-
makers, developers, and others can use to build
healthy, sustainable, and inclusive communities.
These are places that provide clean air, water,
and land; affordable and healthy homes; safe,
reliable, and economical transportation options;
and convenient access to jobs, schools, parks,
shopping, and other daily necessities.
The strategies are grouped under seven common
elements, or shared goals and principles that
connect environmental justice, smart growth,
and equitable development.The fundamental
overlap between these concepts is around how
to plan and build neighborhoods to address
environmental, health, and economic disparities
and provide opportunities for low-income,
"A clean, green, healthy community is a
better place to buy a home and raise a
family; it's more competitive in the race
to attract new businesses; and it has the
foundations it needs for prosperity."
—Lisa P. Jackson
EPA Administrator
minority, tribal, and overburdened residents;
therefore, all the approaches described relate to
land use and community design. This document
provides a brief introduction to each strategy,
with a description of what it is, how it supports
equitable and environmentally sustainable
development, and examples of how it has been
used. Local governments and community-based
organizations can choose the approaches that
best suit their needs and goals. Each of the
seven common elements is illustrated by an in-
depth case study highlighting a community's
experiences with these strategies.
The seven common elements, along with the
strategies that fit under each one, are summarized
on the following pages.
Strategies Linking Smart Growth,
Environmental Justice, and Equitable
Development
Common Element #1: Facilitate Meaningful
Community Engagement in Planning and Land
Use Decisions
Meaningful community participation in land
use planning and decision-making can produce
development that meets the needs of a diverse
group of residents, build broad support for
projects, and lead to more effective public
processes. Planners and community-based
organizations can use interactive, customizable
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
strategies to engage low-income, minority, tribal,
and overburdened residents who face barriers
to participation, are not traditionally involved in
public processes, or are particularly affected by
development proposals.
• Conducting multilingual outreach as part of
planning and development decision-making
is increasingly important with the growing
number of U.S. residents whose primary
language is not English. This approach results
in policies and projects that better meet the
needs of community members and have
stronger public support.
• Conducting community assessments
helps residents gather, analyze, and report
information about current conditions and
needs related to priority issues in their
neighborhoods, such as street safety for
pedestrians. These hands-on exercises can be
facilitated by community-based organizations
or local and regional planners.
• Holding community planning and visioning
workshops helps groups of residents and
organizations define a shared vision and
goals for a site, neighborhood, city, town, or
Minimizing Displacement
Chapter 3 begins with a special section on
tools, policies, and programs that can help
to minimize displacement, an important
issue that cuts across the seven common
elements. Without advance planning
and strong community engagement,
revitalization efforts in low-income and
overburdened neighborhoods have the
potential to displace long-time residents
due to rising rents and other costs of
living. However, a wide range of tools
and strategies can be used to involve
community members in planning and
visioning, provide affordable homes and
transportation choices, support local
businesses, and minimize displacement in
other ways.
region, laying a foundation for subsequent
land use policy and regulatory changes and
investments.
Common Element #2: Promote Public Health
and a Clean and Safe Environment
Designing and developing neighborhoods and
buildings to protect air, water, land, and public
health—particularly the health of overburdened
populations—can reduce exposure to harmful
contamination; prevent future pollution; and
promote physical activity, reduced incidence
of chronic disease, and other positive health
outcomes among residents. This section provides
land use planning and zoning-related approaches
to address the potential environmental and health
concerns from chemical plants, refineries, landfills,
power plants, industrial livestock operations,
and other facilities that are disproportionately
located near low-income, minority, and tribal
communities. It also discusses ways of cleaning
up and reusing the contaminated sites left behind
by those facilities, and methods for integrating
healthy and sustainable elements into buildings
and streets.
• Collaborative planning and zoning strategies
can help reduce exposure to facilities
with potential environmental concerns,
mitigating the impacts of existing facilities
on surrounding communities and siting and
designing proposed facilities to avoid risks.
• Likewise, local and regional planning
agencies, community-based organizations,
and industry representatives can work
together to design freight facilities and
surrounding neighborhoods in ways that
reduce exposure to goods movement
activities and support health, environmental,
and economic goals.
• Clean and reuse contaminated
properties—specifically, brownfields and
Superfund sites—in ways that support the
community's vision for its future.This can
be critical to revitalize neighborhoods and
increase access to needed amenities in
established communities.
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• Strategies that promote green building
can reduce exposure to toxics and pollutants
that have been linked to cancer, asthma, and
other health problems. These strategies can
also reduce energy and water costs, which
are often a significant burden for low-income
families.
• Local governments and community-based
organizations can build green streets by
carrying out relatively simple and low-cost
projects, such as installing rain gardens; or by
enacting comprehensive policy changes, such
as updating street design standards.
Common Element #3: Strengthen Existing
Communities
Many established communities—city downtowns,
older suburban neighborhoods, and rural
villages—are rich in culture, heritage, and social
capital but lack economic opportunities for
residents. Investing in these existing communities
rather than in new developments on the outer
fringes of metropolitan areas can improve
quality of life for low-income and overburdened
populations by bringing the new jobs, services,
and amenities they need. This approach can also
help address the health and safety risks presented
by contaminated properties, abandoned
buildings, and poorly designed streets, and can
increase the tax base to support other local needs.
• Approaches that encourage fixing existing
infrastructure first prioritize the repair
and maintenance of existing roads, bridges,
buildings, and water and wastewater facilities
over the building of new infrastructure in
undeveloped places.
• Reusing vacant and abandoned properties
as community amenities such as housing,
commercial space, gardens, or temporary
green spaces can remove blight and safety
concerns, increase residents'access to
needed services and opportunities, and spur
additional investment in neighborhoods.
• Redeveloping commercial corridors
by creating compact, mixed-use land
use patterns and making streets safer for
pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users can
improve opportunities for businesses and
access for residents along these important
thoroughfares.
Common Element #4: Provide Housing Choices
Offering an array of housing options by
preserving and building affordable housing allows
residents at all income levels to live near jobs,
services, and public transit; helps to minimize
displacement; and reduces transportation costs
and air pollution from long commutes.
• Preserving affordable housing using tools
like deed restrictions, housing trust funds,
rehabilitation assistance, and Low-Income
Housing Tax Credits can maintain housing
choices and access to opportunities for low-
and moderate-income families in revitalizing
areas and catalyze investment in struggling
neighborhoods.
• Creating new affordable housing through
approaches such as inclusionary zoning,
updated land use regulations, and Low-
Income Housing Tax Credits is another way
to expand housing choices for low- and
moderate-income households, including
in affluent communities that lack housing
options for low-income earners, young
people, and seniors.
Common Element #5: Provide Transportation
Options
For many low-income, minority, tribal, and
overburdened communities, public transit and
safe routes for walking and bicycling are critical
links to regional employment and educational
opportunities that help residents improve their lives.
Providing equitable and affordable transportation
options improves mobility and access to jobs,
services, and other daily necessities for all residents,
including those who do not own cars.
• Providing access to public transportation
through inclusive schedule and route
planning and thoughtful transit stop and
street design connects people to regional jobs
and services.
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• Implementing equitable transit-oriented
development provides affordable housing
near transit, which can significantly lower the
housing and transportation costs that claim
a large share of the incomes of many low-
income households.
• Local and regional agencies and community-
based organizations can work together
to design safe streets for all users by
incorporating sidewalks, bike lanes, median
islands, pedestrian signals, bus lanes, and
other facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists,
motorists, and public transit users of all ages
and abilities into new and existing streets.
Common Element #6: Improve Access to
Opportunities and Daily Necessities
All residents, regardless of race, ethnicity, or
economic status, should have access to the basic
ingredients for healthy, productive lives, including
employment and educational opportunities;
services such as health clinics and child care; and
amenities such as grocery stores, safe streets, and
parks and recreational facilities.
• Approaches to promote diverse,
community-centered schools preserve or
build schools that are near the families they
serve. Community-centered schools allow
students to walk or bicycle to school, which
promotes physical activity; and provide
important community anchors and gathering
places.
• Programs that create safe routes to school
improve children's health by providing
education, enforcement, and infrastructure
upgrades that make it possible for them to
walk or bicycle to school.
• Planners and community-based organizations
can provide access to healthy food by
removing barriers in land use regulations,
offering incentives and financing to retailers,
connecting retailers with financing, and
assisting with challenging issues such as
assembling land for development.
• Providing access to parks and green space
at all scales provides critical health, social, and
environmental benefits for low-income and
overburdened communities.
Common Element #7: Preserve and Build
on the Features That Make a Community
Distinctive
Authentic community planning and revitalization
are anchored in the physical and cultural assets
that make a place unique. As decision-makers
and community stakeholders implement
the policies and strategies described in this
report, they should build on the distinctive
characteristics of their neighborhoods. Preserving
and strengthening the features that make a place
special maintains what existing residents value
about their homes, attracts new residents and
visitors, and spurs economic development that is
grounded in community identity.
• Community planning and historic
preservation strategies can help to preserve
existing cultural features.
• Tools such as design guidelines and
neighborhood conservation districts can
create new development that strengthens
local culture by capturing the specific
physical characteristics of development
that determine the overall character of a
neighborhood and applying them to new
projects.
This publication demonstrates that smart
growth, environmental justice, and equitable
development approaches can be an effective
combination for responding to the challenges
overburdened communities face, promoting
development that is authentic and enduring, and
laying the foundation for economic resilience.
Taken together or in part, the strategies outlined
here can help low-income, minority, tribal, and
overburdened communities shape development
to respond to their needs and reflect their
values. These strategies can also help local and
regional planners and policy-makers make land
use decisions that are equitable, healthy, and
sustainable for all residents.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Chapter 1: Introduction
Communities across the country are integrating
smart growth, environmental justice, and
equitable development approaches to design
and build healthy, sustainable, and inclusive
neighborhoods. Residents of Spartanburg, South
Carolina, partnered with the local government,
federal agencies, and industry stakeholders
to create new housing, parks, businesses, and
health clinics where brownfields, landfills,
and abandoned buildings once existed. In
New Orleans'Versailles neighborhood, the
community came together after Hurricane
Katrina to rebuild its main business corridor
and strengthen the neighborhood's sense
of place, which is anchored in Vietnamese
culture. On the Ohkay Owingeh reservation in
New Mexico, tribal leaders are implementing
a Master Land Use Plan that creates affordable
housing, preserves valuable water resources, and
revives traditional Pueblo settlement patterns
and historic plazas. Bethel New Life, a faith-
based community development corporation on
Chicago's West Side, formed a regional coalition
to preserve transit service in the predominantly
African-American neighborhood and led the
construction of shops, child care facilities, an
employment center, and energy-efficient and
affordable homes around a train station.
These diverse communities and many others
are finding that environmental justice, smart
growth, and equitable development can be an
effective combination for promoting a clean and
safe environment, a strong economy, and good
quality of life for all residents. Overburdened1
communities are using smart growth strategies to
address long-standing environmental and
In Plan EJ 2014, EPA's overarching strategy for advancing
environmental justice, the Agency uses the term "overburdened"
to describe the minority, low-income, tribal, and indigenous
populations or communities in the United States that potentially
experience disproportionate environmental harms and risks as
a result of greater vulnerability to environmental hazards. This
increased vulnerability may be attributable to an accumulation of
negative and a lack of positive environmental, health, economic, or
social conditions within these populations or communities.
Without the appropriate engagement
and planning, the implementation
of smart growth strategies in low-
income and minority communities can
displace existing residents due to rising
rents and other costs of living.This
unintended consequence has caused
some environmental justice and equity
proponents to question smart growth's
inclusivity, and has contributed to a divide
between smart growth and environmental
justice. However, some communities have
worked hard to bridge that divide, and
have found that a wide range of tools
and strategies can be used to engage
community members in neighborhood
planning and visioning, provide affordable
homes and transportation choices,
support local businesses, and minimize
displacement in other ways. Many of them
are described in this publication.
Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo's Master Land Use Plan strengthens
the pueblo's cultural identity and protects its natural
surroundings by maintaining its traditional commitment to
environmentally sensitive design. Photo courtesy of the San
Juan Pueblo Office of the Governor.
INTRODUCTION
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
"For too long, environmental justice
and smart growth have been viewed as
separate, yet communities across the
U.S. are showing that they are actually
complementary. Bringing them together can
help community-based organizations, local
planners, and other stakeholders achieve
healthy and sustainable communities for all
Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or
economic status."
—Lisa Garcia
Associate Assistant Administrator
for Environmental Justice, U.S. EPA
health challenges and create new opportunities
where they live. Regional and local planners
are engaging low-income, minority, and tribal
residents in decision-making and producing
more enduring development that is better for
people and the environment. Community groups,
government agencies, and private and nonprofit
partners are cleaning up and investing in existing
neighborhoods, providing affordable housing and
transportation options, and improving access to
critical services and amenities.
This informational publication aims to build on
the successes described above and help other
low-income, minority, tribal, and overburdened
communities shape development that responds
to their needs and reflects their values. It
identifies approaches that bring together smart
growth, environmental justice, and equitable
development principles and can be used by
community-based organizations, community
development corporations, local and regional
decision-makers, developers, and other
stakeholders to build healthy, sustainable, and
inclusive communities.These are places that
provide clean air, water, and land; affordable and
healthy homes; safe, reliable, and economical
transportation options; and convenient access
to jobs, schools, parks, shopping, and other daily
necessities. This publication provides a menu
of strategies and best practices for local policy-
makers and community leaders to consider. Each
community can choose the approaches that best
suit its needs and goals.
Core Concepts
Environmental justice, smart growth, and
equitable development goals and principles
have fundamental areas of overlap. They all
aim to create communities that are healthy,
environmentally sustainable, and economically
vibrant. They also seek to empower residents to
shape development where they live. This section
introduces the three concepts.The strategies and
approaches described later in the publication
draw on these three fields.
Environmental justice
The environmental justice movement emerged
in the 1980s when minority, low-income,
and tribal communities began to organize in
response to disproportionate environmental
and health impacts in their neighborhoods
such as hazardous facility siting, industrial
contamination, air pollution, and lead poisoning.
In 1982, residents of poor, predominantly
African-American Warren County, North Carolina,
protested the siting of a landfill, focusing national
attention on this issue and sparking action in
other communities. Subsequently, empirical
studies have shown that environmental burdens
are disproportionately located in minority, low-
income, and tribal communities.2
Environmental justice leaders strengthened the
movement by securing the establishment of
EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and the
signing of Executive Order 12898,"Federal Actions
to Address Environmental Justice in Minority
Populations and Low-Income Populations,"in
the early 1990s. The Executive Order instructed
federal agencies to address disproportionately
high and adverse health or environmental effects
of their programs on low-income, minority, and
Numerous studies on disproportionate environmental impacts
have been conducted since the 1980s. For a compilation of
scientific information on environmental justice and environmental
health disparities, see "Environmental Justice and Disparities in
Environmental Health" in the American Journal of Public Health,
December 2011, Volume 101, SI.
NTRODUCTIO
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
tribal communities. It also created the Federal
Interagency Working Group on Environmental
Justice to guide, support, and enhance federal
environmental justice and community-based
activities.3
EPA defines environmental justice as "the fair
treatment and meaningful involvement of all
people regardless of race, color, national origin,
or income with respect to the development,
implementation, and enforcement of
environmental laws, regulations,and policies."4
"Fair treatment" means that no group of people
should bear a disproportionate share of the
negative environmental consequences resulting
from industrial, governmental, or commercial
operations and policies.5 Over the years, EPA
and environmental justice organizations have
expanded the concept of fair treatment to
consider not only how burdens are distributed,
but also how environmental and health benefits
are shared.6 In other words, all people, regardless
of race, ethnicity, or economic status, should have
the opportunity to enjoy the positive outcomes
of environmentally related decisions and actions,
such as cleaner air and water, improved health,
and economic vitality. "Meaningful involvement"
means that the public should have opportunities
to participate in decisions that could affect their
environment and their health, their contributions
should be taken into account by regulatory
agencies, and decision-makers should seek and
facilitate the engagement of those potentially
affected by their decisions.7 Building on its roots
in the civil rights movement, the environmental
justice movement seeks to empower
communities to speak for themselves. EPA places
Clinton, William J., Executive Order 12898,"Federal Actions to
Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and
Low-Income Populations," February 11,1994, Federal Register 59,
No. 32: 7629.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Justice.
www.epa.gov/compliance/ej. Accessed 2010.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Justice.
www.epa.gov/compliance/ej. Accessed 2010.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA's Action Development
Process: Interim Guidance on Considering EnvironmentalJustice
during the Development of an Action. 2010. www.epa.gov/
compliance/ej/resources/policy/considering-ej-in-rulemaking-
guide-07-2010.pdf.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental Justice.
www.epa.gov/compliance/ej. Accessed 2010.
Portland, Oregon's New Columbia neighborhood
provides a range of housing opportunities for
residents of various incomes. Photo courtesy of the Housing
Authority of Portland.
particular emphasis on the public health and
environmental conditions affecting minority, low-
income, and tribal populations, as they frequently
bear greater environmental harms and risks than
the general population and often lack access to
environmental benefits.8
Environmental justice is now being put into action
by federal, tribal, state, and local government
agencies and organizations. A key driver for EPA
is Plan EJ 2014, the Agency's overarching strategy
for advancing environmental justice. The plan,
which commemorates the 20th anniversary
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Symposium on the Science
of Disproportionate Environmental Health Impacts, www.epa.gov/
compliance/ej/multimedia/albums/epa/disproportionate-impacts-
symposium.html. Accessed 2011.
INTRODUCTION
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
of Executive Order 12898, seeks to empower
communities to improve their health and
environments and establish partnerships between
government agencies and other stakeholder
groups.9 EPA and the White House Council on
Environmental Quality have also reconvened
the Federal Interagency Working Group on
Environmental Justice. As part of this effort, 17
federal agencies and White House offices are
working with community stakeholders to develop
and implement environmental justice strategies,
strengthen community access to federal
resources, and integrate environmental justice
into programs, policies, and activities across the
federal government.10
Smart growth
Smart growth describes a range of strategies for
planning and building cities, suburbs, and small
towns in ways that protect the environment and
public health, support economic development,
and strengthen communities. In 1996, the Smart
Growth Network, a group of more than 30
national organizations representing a range of
interests including land conservation; affordable
housing; real estate; community development;
9 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Plan EJ2014.2011.
www.epa.gov/compliance/ej/resources/policy/plan-ej-2014/plan-
ej-2011-09.pdf.
10 In 2011, the 17 federal agencies and White House offices
participating in the Federal Interagency Working Group on
Environmental Justice signed the Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) on Environmental Justice and Executive Order 12898. This
MOU serves as a formal agreement to recommit to environmental
justice through a collaborative and comprehensive effort. The
agencies agreed to continue to identify and address environmental
justice considerations in their programs, policies, and activities;
provide environmental justice strategies and implementation
progress reports; adopt an MOU charter; and identify areas of focus.
To inform their work and engage communities, the agencies held
listening sessions and stakeholder dialogues around the country,
as well as a White House Forum on Environmental Justice which
brought together administration officials, community leaders, and
officials from state, local and tribal governments to discuss issues
that are important to communities overburdened with pollution.
The Federal Interagency Working Group on Environmental
Justice has created a compendium of agency strategies, policies,
guidance documents, and plans for implementing Executive Order
12898; the Environmental Justice Federal Interagency Directory
with information about agency roles, organizational charts, and
key contacts; and the Community-Based Federal Environmental
Justice Guide, describing federal funding and technical assistance
programs that can assist communities in reducing toxic exposures.
These resources are available from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency at "Federal Interagency Working Group on
Environmental Justice," www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/
interagency.
transportation; and local, state, and federal
government, created 10 smart growth principles
based on the experiences of communities around
the country.The principles are:11
• Mix land uses. Mixing housing, shops, offices,
schools, and other compatible land uses
in the same neighborhood makes it easy
for residents to walk, bicycle, take public
transportation, drive shorter distances, and
reach different destinations conveniently and
afford ably.
• Take advantage of compact building
design. Compact building design preserves
open space and uses land and resources
more efficiently. It creates neighborhoods
that can easily be served by public transit,
puts destinations close enough for people to
walk between, and protects water quality by
reducing the amount of paved surfaces and
polluted runoff.
• Create a range of housing opportunities
and choices. Providing an array of quality
housing options in new developments and
existing neighborhoods allows people of all
income levels, household sizes, and stages
of life to live near jobs, public transit, and
services.
• Create walkable neighborhoods. Creating
safe and inviting pedestrian spaces, mixing
land uses, and building compactly make
walking a viable transportation option, which
can reduce transportation costs, encourage
physical activity, and help to reduce obesity,
diabetes, and other diseases.
• Foster distinctive, attractive communities
with a strong sense of place. Development
should represent the values and the unique
history, culture, economy, and geography
of a community. Preserving and building on
community assets are key to long-term quality
of life and economic vitality.
11 Smart Growth Network. Why Smart Growth? smartgrowth.org/why.
php. Accessed 2010.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Preserve open space, farmland, natural
beauty, and critical environmental areas.
Farmland, pastures, forests, and other
natural and working lands support land-
based economic activities that are critical for
healthy regional and national economies.
The vegetation in natural areas also helps to
protect the environment and public health by
filtering pollutants from the air and drinking
water.
Strengthen and direct development
towards existing communities. Investing
in existing communities helps to address
environmental and health hazards like
contaminated properties, brings new jobs
and services for residents, and saves localities
money by using the infrastructure already in
place.
Provide a variety of transportation choices.
A balanced transportation system that
incorporates many means of travel—including
buses, rail, walking, biking, and private cars—
provides more affordable options for getting
around, reduces air pollution and associated
health impacts, and increases mobility for
citizens who do not drive.
Make development decisions predictable,
fair, and cost effective. By making
development processes clear and by working
with the private sector, municipalities can
make smart growth economically viable and
attractive to private investors and developers.
Encourage community and stakeholder
collaboration in development decisions.
Development can create great places to live,
work, and play if it responds to a community's
sense of how and where it wants to grow.
Smart growth strategies involve residents,
businesses, and all other stakeholders early
and often to define and implement the
community's vision and goals.
Equitable development strategies
help low-income, minority, tribal,
and overburdened communities
participate in and benefit from
decisions that shape their
neighborhoods and regions.
These principles form the foundation for
strategies that cities, suburbs, small towns,
and rural areas can use to create efficient
development that is environmentally and
economically sustainable and provides more
opportunities for all residents. Each community
can adapt smart growth strategies and techniques
to meet its needs. Smart growth development will
look different in different places depending on
each community's context and priorities.
Equitable development
There is no formal definition or set of principles
to describe equitable development, but the
term generally refers to a range of approaches
for creating healthy, vibrant, and sustainable
communities where residents of all incomes,
races, and ethnicities have access to the
opportunities, services, and amenities they need
to thrive. Equitable development strategies help
low-income, minority, tribal, and overburdened
communities participate in and benefit from
decisions that shape their neighborhoods and
regions.
12
The concept of equitable development draws on
both environmental justice and smart growth. It
emphasizes that all residents should be protected
from environmental hazards and enjoy access
to environmental, health, economic, and social
necessities such as clean air and water, adequate
infrastructure, job opportunities, and involvement
in decision-ma king. To achieve this, equitable
development approaches usually integrate
people-focused strategies—efforts that support
community residents—with place-focused
12 PolicyLink. Equitable DevelopmentToolkit.www.policylink.org/
site/c.lklXLbMNJrE/b.5136575/k.39A1/Equitable Development
Toolkit.htm. Accessed 2010.
INTRODUCTION
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
strategies—efforts that stabilize and improve
the neighborhood environment.13 Place-
focused investments in housing, transportation,
infrastructure, and pollution cleanup can reduce
health and economic disparities, bring new
opportunities, and improve quality of life. People-
focused programs that assist with job training and
placement, business development, education,
health and wellness, and financial management
can build the skills and wealth of residents and
equip them to take part in revitalization and
remain in their neighborhoods. Meaningful
community participation and leadership are
crucial components of equitable development.
In addition, equitable development typically
calls for a regional perspective in order to
reduce health and economic inequalities among
localities and improve outcomes for low-income
communities while building healthy metropolitan
regions. Equitable development aims to ensure
that everyone—regardless of where they
live—can benefit from economic growth in
the region, with affordable housing in safe and
attractive neighborhoods, living-wage jobs, high-
performing schools, public transit, and other
essential services and amenities evenly available.14
Equitable development efforts not only aim to
revitalize disadvantaged neighborhoods, but
also to ensure that low-income residents have
access to housing and job opportunities in more
affluent communities, increasing the diversity and
economic prosperity of the region as a whole.
"Healthy communities are not only
environmentally healthy, they are also
socially and economically strong. They offer
employment and educational opportunities,
safe and affordable homes, access to
recreation, health care, and other needs
of daily life, all close enough together that
people can choose to safely walk, bike, or
take transit instead of driving."
—Lisa P. Jackson
EPA Administrator
Overlap between smart growth, environmental
justice, and equitable development
This publication highlights strategies and
approaches that link smart growth, environmental
justice, and equitable development. In Chapter
3, these strategies and approaches are grouped
under seven common themes that unite the three
concepts.The fundamental overlap between
smart growth, environmental justice, and
equitable development is how to plan and build
neighborhoods to address environmental, health,
and economic disparities and provide benefits
and opportunities for low-income, minority, tribal,
and overburdened residents, so all the strategies
described relate generally to land use and
community design.
13 PolicyLink. Equitable DevelopmentToolkit.www.policylink.org/
site/c.lklXLbMNJrE/b.5136575/k.39A1/Equitable Development
Toolkit.htm. Accessed 2010.
14 Glover Blackwell, Angela and Fox, Radhika K. Regional Equity and
Smart Growth: Opportunities for Advancing Social and Economic
Justice in America. Funders' Network for Smart Growth and
Livable Communities. 2004. www.fundersnetwork.org/files/learn/
Regional Equity and Smart Growth 2nd Ed.pdf.
NTRODUCTIO
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Chapter 2: Challenges to Equitable, Healthy, and
Sustainable Communities
Low-income, minority, and tribal communities
face an array of challenges. Many continue to deal
with the types of disproportionate environmental
concerns and lack of access to decision-making
that sparked the environmental justice movement
decades ago. Others, whose neighborhoods
have been cleared of contaminated sites and are
attracting new development, are confronting
rising costs of living and displacement. The
challenges described in this chapter are wide-
ranging, touching on issues of health, community
engagement, economic resilience, and access
to opportunities and services. However, they
are all related to how communities are planned
and developed. The next chapter provides smart
growth, environmental justice, and equitable
development strategies and policies that can help
address these challenges.
Environmental and Health Concerns
Facilities with potential environmental and
health impacts
Low-income, minority, and tribal communities
have historically borne a disproportionate share
of environmental harms and risks and are more
likely to live in areas that increase these risks.15-16
Because they often live where land is inexpensive,
possess fewer economic resources, and have
less access to decision-making, industries that
discharge pollution might find it easier to locate
near these populations than in other areas. As
a result, many low-income, minority, and tribal
communities live near chemical plants, smelters,
refineries, landfills, hazardous waste sites, and
other industrial facilities. In rural areas, low-
income communities might also be close to
mining, industrial livestock, and concentrated
Low-income, minority, and tribal populations are more likely
to live in areas that increase their exposure to environmental
and health risks. Photo courtesy of EPA.
animal feeding operations.17 Industrial facilities
support local and regional economies and employ
residents in permanent, living-wage positions,
but they can also bring environmental and health
concerns.
"All too often, low-income, minority and
tribal Americans live in the shadows of the
worst pollution, facing disproportionate
health impacts and greater obstacles to
economic growth in communities that
cannot attract businesses and new jobs."
—Lisa P. Jackson
EPA Administrator
15 Chavis, Benjamin F. and Lee, Charles. Toxic Wastes and Race in the
United States. United Church of Christ. 1987. www.ucc.org/about-
us/archives/pdfs/toxwrace87.pdf.
16 Bullard, Robert D.; Mohai, Paul; Saha, Robin; and Wright, Beverly.
Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty. United Church of Christ. 2007.
www.ucc.org/iustice/pdfs/toxic20.pdf.
17 Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) are agricultural
operations where animals are kept and raised in confined
situations. The animals, feed, by-products, and production
operations are concentrated on a small land area. Feed is brought
to the animals rather than the animals grazing or seeking feed on
open pastures or ranges.
CHALLENGES TO EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE CO
UNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
If it is not designed and built with the needs of residents in
mind, affordable housing can present health risks and
might not be near transportation options, services,
and amenities that residents need.
Photo courtesy of Seattle Housing Authority.
Industrial facilities are regulated under federal
and state laws that reduce contamination,
including EPA's rulemaking, permitting, and
enforcement and compliance programs, but air
and water pollution from these sources can still
have health impacts. For instance, people who
live near goods movement facilities—freight
transportation locations such as seaports, rail
yards, and warehouses—can be exposed to
elevated levels of air toxics emitted bydiesel-
powered vehicles and equipment.These
pollutants contribute to respiratory illness, heart
disease, cancer, and premature death.18 Industrial
facilities can also bring other impacts such as
noise pollution and increased risk of injuries and
fatalities from truck traffic.
Even when industrial facilities close down,
they can continue to affect surrounding
neighborhoods.They often leave behind
contaminated sites that can pose health threats to
nearby residents from polluted water and soil and
present barriers to redevelopment.
These site-specific risks can be compounded by
the fact that many minority communities live
in regions that do not meet federal air or water
quality standards.19-20 Exposure to air pollutants21
as well as bacteria, parasites, and other
contaminants in drinking water can cause disease
and even death.22
Unhealthy housing
Low-income, minority, and tribal populations
are more likely to live in unhealthy housing
with indoor air pollution, lead paint, asbestos,
mold, and mildew.23 Lead poisoning causes
permanent brain damage that leads to impaired
mental abilities, and high levels of exposure can
cause seizures, behavioral disorders, and death.
Mold and mildew can cause allergic reactions
and exacerbate asthma. Asbestos is associated
with cancer.24 In low-income rural and tribal
communities, the smoke from older wood-
burning stoves can aggravate lung disease, cause
asthma attacks, and increase susceptibility to
respiratory infections.25
Physical inactivity and chronic disease
Research indicates that low-income populations
engage in less physical activity than the general
population,26 and some minorities are less likely
than other groups to get enough daily physical
activity.27These trends can be related in part
to how communities and streets are designed,
18 National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Reducing Air
Emissions Associated with Goods Movement: Working Towards
EnvironmentalJustice. 2009.www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/
resources/publications/neiac/2009-g oods-movement.pdf.
19 American Lung Association. State of Lung Disease in Diverse
Communities. 2010.www.lungusa.org/assets/documents/
publications/lung-disease-data/solddc 2010.pdf.
20 Quintero-Somaini, Adrianna and Quirindongo, Mayra. Hidden
Danger: Environmental Health Threats in the Latino Community.
Natural Resources Defense Council. 2004. www.nrdc.org/health/
effects/latino/english/contents.asp.
21 American Lung Association. State of Lung Disease in Diverse
Communities. 2010. www.lungusa.org/assets/documents/
publications/lung-disease-data/solddc 2010.pdf.
22 Quintero-Somaini, Adrianna and Quirindongo, Mayra. Hidden
Danger: Environmental Health Threats in the Latino Community.
Natural Resources Defense Council. 2004. www.nrdc.org/health/
effects/latino/english/contents.asp.
23 Alliance for Healthy Homes. Disparities in Risk, www.afhh.org/
chil ar/chil ar disparities.htm. Accessed 2010.
24 American Lung Association. State of Lung Disease in Diverse
Communities. 2010. www.lungusa.org/assets/documents/
publications/lung-disease-data/solddc 2010.pdf.
25 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Burn Wise: Consumers—
Health Effects. Accessed 2011. www.epa.gov/burnwise/
healtheffects.html.
26 Active Living by Design. Low Income Populations and Physical
Activity. 2012. www.healthtrust.org/pdf/PhysicalActivityforLowlnco
mePopulations-TheHealthTrust.pdf.
27 PolicyLinkand the Prevention Institute. The Transportation
Prescription. 2010. www.policylink.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.as
px?c=lklXLbMNJrE&b=5136581 &ct=7290885.
HALLENGES TO EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
which has a direct effect on residents'abilityto be
active. Many underserved neighborhoods do not
have sidewalks, crosswalks, street lights, parks,
or recreational facilities. They often lack stores,
schools, and other daily necessities within walking
distance of homes. Vacant buildings, crime, and
other factors that make residents feel unsafe
can prevent them from walking or bicycling or
allowing their children to play outside or walk or
bike to school.
The links between physical activity and health
are well established. A sedentary lifestyle can
contribute to obesity, heart disease, and Type 2
diabetes—illnesses that disproportionately affect
minority communities.28-29'30
Inadequate nutrition
Low-income, minority, and tribal populations
sometimes have difficulty maintaining well-
balanced diets, partly because of inadequate
access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food and
easy access to cheap fast food. Many underserved
neighborhoods lack supermarkets, compelling
residents without transportation options to shop
at convenience stores with high prices and a
limited selection of nutritious foods. If residents
are able to travel to grocery stores, they often
must make lengthy and costly trips.31 In rural
communities without public transportation,
getting to stores with healthy food can be even
more difficult.
28 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Obesity
Data/Statistics, minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.
aspx?lvl=3&lvlid=550. Accessed 2011.
29 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Heart Disease
Data/Statistics, minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.
aspx?lvl=3&lvlid=127. Accessed 2011.
30 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Diabetes
Data/Statistics, minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.
aspx?lvl=3&lvlid=62. Accessed 2011.
31 U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Access
to Affordable and Nutritious Food: Measuring and Understanding
Food Deserts and Their Consequences. 2009. webarchives.cdlib.org/
wayback.public/UERS ag 1/20111128200143/http:/www.ers.usda.
gov/Publ ication S/AP/AP036A
The links between physical activity
and health are well established.
A sedentary lifestyle can contribute
to obesity, heart disease, and
Type 2 diabetes—illnesses that
disproportionately affect minority
communities.
Cumulative health impacts
The many physical, chemical, biological, social,
and cultural factors overburdened populations
face can combine to increase their exposure
to environmental toxins, make them more
susceptible to these toxins, and reduce their
ability to recover from exposure. These factors
can include pre-existing health conditions,
lack of access to health care and insurance,
poor nutrition, lack of information about
environmental and health issues, lack of exercise,
and many others.32-33
Disinvestment in Established
Communities
Dispersed development patterns
After World War II, development in the United
States spread from cities and older suburbs
to the fringes of metropolitan areas and
beyond.This trend was promoted by public
policies that encouraged building new homes
and roads rather than investing in existing
communities, and was fueled by a variety of
economic and cultural factors. As these far-flung
developments expanded, the populations of
central cities and towns decreased, with growing
concentrations of low-income and minority
residents. Transportation and water infrastructure
often was not adequately maintained and
32 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA's Action Development
Process: Interim Guidance on Considering EnvironmentalJustice
During the Development of an Action. 2010. www.epa.gov/
compliance/ej/resources/policy/considering-ej-in-rulemaking-
guide-07-2010.pdf.
33 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Symposium on the Science
of Disproportionate Environmental Health Impacts, www.epa.gov/
environmentaljustice/multimedia/albums/epa/disproportionate-
impacts-symposium.html. Accessed 2011.
CHALLENGES TO EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE CO
UNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
municipal services were reduced.The number
of brownfields and other contaminated and
vacant sites increased. Facing falling property
values, some residents abandoned their homes
and housing stock deteriorated. Businesses also
began moving to the edges of metropolitan
regions, making it harder for the residents of
disinvested neighborhoods to find work and
earn a living. Jobs in the suburbs were often
inaccessible because public transportation did
not connect urban and suburban areas.34 At the
same time, exclusionary zoning practices in some
newer neighborhoods limited the construction
of small, multifamily, and rental homes, making
these places unaffordable to lower-income
residents. Additionally, redlining35 and racially
exclusionary covenants36 were used to deny
mortgage loans and other resources to minorities
and low-income people to keep them out of more
affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods.
These federal, local, and private-sector policies
increased residential segregation by race,
ethnicity, and economic status. Low-income and
minority families looking to move closer to their
jobs, high-quality schools, and other resources
can still face unintentionally and deliberately
discriminatory housing policies and practices in
more affluent communities.
Disinvestment and spread-out development
patterns have affected rural and tribal
communities as well. In many rural areas, the
decline of agriculture and manufacturing has
led to unemployment and poverty. As young
people move away, populations age, and
employers choose to locate elsewhere, small
towns and rural places have struggled to identify
their competitive advantages and attract
new economic development. In rural places
34 Jackson, Kenneth. Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the
United States. 1987. Oxford University Press.
35 "Redlining" refers to the practice of denying or increasing the cost
of goods and services such as mortgage and business loans, other
financial services, insurance, and retail to residents of particular
areas, which were often racially determined. The term originally
described the practice of drawing red lines on a map to delineate
areas where banks and businesses would not invest.
36 Racially exclusionary covenants restricted the sale or occupation
of property on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, or social class.
They were used to prohibit buyers of property from reselling,
leasing, or transferring it to members of a given race, ethnicity, or
religion as specified in the title deed.
close to metropolitan regions, farmland and
natural lands have been lost to development,
threatening resource-dependent economies and
the rural character residents value. Dispersed
and unplanned development on tribal lands
can endanger the natural resources indigenous
peoples need for hunting, fishing, planting, and
other traditional practices.
Neighborhoods without essential goods and
services
As described above, disinvestment in many cities,
older suburbs, and rural areas has left residents
without the goods and services they need to thrive,
including accessible and affordable transportation
options, parks and other recreational facilities,
good schools, health clinics, grocery stores, and
other places to buy healthy food. Some very low-
income rural and tribal communities lack basic
necessities such as safe and adequate drinking
water, wastewater, housing, and transportation
infrastructure, making it difficult to meet essential
needs and even more challenging to improve the
economic situations of residents.
The lack of transportation options in many
communities is a particular challenge. Low-income
and minority populations are less likely to own
cars, and their neighborhoods might not be served
by efficient, reliable public transportation.They
often lack sidewalks and bicycle paths to connect
Streets without facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists make
it harder and more dangerous for people without cars to
get around. Photo courtesy of EPA.
HALLENGES TO EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
them to local destinations and transit stops. Those
who do walk can face disproportionate safety risks
due to poorly designed streets, neglected road
maintenance, inadequate lighting, and minimal
traffic enforcement.37
Because low-income families have fewer
transportation options and farther to travel to
reach jobs and services, they typically spend a
higher than average percentage of their incomes
on transportation. While the average U.S. family
spends about 18 percent of after-tax income on
transportation, low-wage households living far
from employment centers spend 37 percent of
their incomes on transportation,38 and very low-
income households can spend 55 percent or
more.39 In contrast,families living in neighborhoods
well-served by public transportation spend an
average of 9 percent.40
Displacement
When neighborhood revitalization occurs, it
can bring unintended adverse consequences
for low-income residents if it does not involve
careful planning and strong community
engagement. New investments in infrastructure,
public transportation, and businesses can make
surrounding real estate more desirable, raising
property values and spurring the conversion of
affordable housing to higher-end units.These
trends can result in the displacement of existing
residents and businesses and can particularly
affect renters. Leaving a neighborhood can mean
not just leaving a home, but often social networks
and community culture as well. Low-income
residents who are not displaced can still be
affected as they can face significantly increased
costs of living.
Community Engagement,
Empowerment, and Capacity
Many factors can prevent low-income, minority,
and tribal populations from participating in
public decision-making. A lack of transparency
or willingness of government agencies to
engage the community early in planning can
make it more difficult for residents to influence
development decisions. Even with open dialogue
and transparency, other limitations might
exist. These include educational and language
differences, a lack of access to the Internet
and other information sources, a lack of time
for meetings and review of documents, and
a lack of trust between decision-makers and
community stakeholders. Community-based and
neighborhood organizations often lack the ability
to track and influence all the issues affecting
their constituents.They might not have access to
scientific, technical, or legal resources, or capacity
to monitor funding sources or apply for grants
or other assistance. Some government agencies
are overcoming these barriers by translating
publications and websites, holding meetings in
various locations and at different times of day and
night, and forming stronger partnerships with
community-based organizations. However, many
policy-makers still need guidance on how to work
most effectively with low-income, minority, and
tribal populations and the social service entities,
faith-based organizations, and environmental
justice groups that serve them.
37 PolicyLinkand the Prevention Institute. The Transportation
Prescription. 2010. www.policylink.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.as
px?c=lklXLbMNJrE&b=5136581 &ct=7290885.
38 PolicyLinkand the Prevention Institute. The Transportation
Prescription. 2010. www.policylink.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.as
px?c=lklXLbMNJrE&b=5136581 &ct=7290885.
39 Center for Transit-Oriented Development. Mixed-Income Housing
Near Transit. 2009. www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/display
asset/091030ra201 mixedhousefmal.
40 PolicyLinkand the Prevention Institute. The Transportation
Prescription. 2010. www.policylink.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.as
px?c=lklXLbMNJrE&b=5136581 &ct=7290885.
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UNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Climate Change Challenges in Low-Income and Overburdened Communities
The changing climate will present many challenges to communities, including hotter days and
nights, more frequent heat waves, more and stronger storms, rising sea levels, and higher storm
surges that cause more flooding. Effects will vary in different regions of the United States. Many of
these effects are already being seen.41
Low-income and overburdened communities are particularly vulnerable to the projected impacts
of climate change. These include health effects such as increased rates of asthma and other
respiratory problems due to greater concentrations of local and regional air pollutants,42 heat
stress and heat exhaustion, and weather-related injury and death. Low-income households are less
likely to have air conditioning in their homes and often live in neighborhoods without safe and
convenient places to cool down, putting them at higher risk of heat stress, heat exhaustion, and
even death.43 More extreme temperatures and unpredictable energy prices can also raise energy
costs for low-income families, who already spend a greater average share of their household
incomes on energy than higher-income households.44 The homes of low-income residents are
more vulnerable to violent weather, such as hurricanes and severe storms, because they are often
not constructed to resist it or are not covered by insurance. If their homes are destroyed, they might
not be able to afford to rebuild or move to a safer location. Flood damage to affordable housing
stock might leave low-income people with fewer housing choices. For example, Cedar Falls, Iowa
lost a significant number of affordable homes during the severe flooding of the Mississippi River in
2008.45 Many of these homes were located in the river's flood plain.
41 U.S. Global Change Research Program. Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. 2009. www.globalchange.gov/what-we-do/
assessment/previous-assessments/global-climate-change-impacts-in-the-us-2009.
42 Interagency Working Group on Climate Change and Health. A Human Health Perspective on Climate Change. Environmental Health
Perspectives and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.2010.www.niehs.nih.gov/health/assets/docs a e/
climatereport2010.pdf.
43 Fora discussion of the characteristics of neighborhoods that suffered particularly high levels of heat-related deaths in the 1995 Chicago
heat wave, see Browning, Christopher, et al."Neighborhood Social Processes, Physical Conditions, and Disaster-Related Mortality:The
Case of the 1995 Chicago Heat Wave." American Sociological Review, 2006, Vol. 71 (August: 661-6781. health.bsd.uchicago.edu/FileStore/
BrowningWallaceFeinbergCagney ASR Aug%2006.pdf.
44 Applied Public Policy Research Institute for Study and Evaluation. LIHEAP Energy Burden Evaluation Study: Final Report. 2005.
45 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Smart Growth Technical Assistance in Iowa, www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/iowa techasst.
htm#cedarfalls. Accessed 2011.
CHALLENGES TO EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Chapter 3: Strategies Linking Smart Growth,
Environmental Justice, and Equitable Development
A wide variety of strategies and approaches
link smart growth, environmental justice,
and equitable development to respond to
the challenges overburdened communities
face, promote growth that is equitable and
environmentally sustainable, and lay the
foundation for economic resilience. This chapter
describes approaches that communities across
the country have used successfully. Since land use
planning is a local responsibility, this publication
provides a menu of strategies that can be
implemented by municipal and regional decision-
makers, community-based organizations,
private-sector stakeholders, or partnerships
between them. In some cases, state, federal,
or philanthropic support can be helpful. Each
community should implement the approaches
that best suit its needs and achieve local goals.
The strategies are grouped under seven
common elements, or shared goals and
principles that connect environmental justice,
smart growth, and equitable development.
This document provides a brief introduction
to each strategy that describes what it is, how
it supports equitable and environmentally
sustainable development, potential barriers to
implementation by low-income or overburdened
communities, and examples of how it has been
used. Each section includes an in-depth case
study highlighting a community's experiences
with these strategies. Further resources related to
these strategies are listed in the Resource Guide
at the end of this document.
Fruitvale Village, in a predominantly Latino neighborhood of
East Oakland, California, is a vibrant community gathering
place that provides services and amenities to residents and
celebrates local culture. Photo courtesy of the Unity Council.
SEVEN COMMON ELEMENTS
OF SMART GROWTH,
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND
EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
Facilitate Meaningful Community
Engagement in Planning and Land Use
Decisions
Promote Public Health and a Clean and
Safe Environment
Strengthen Existing Communities
Provide Housing Choices
Provide Transportation Options
Improve Access to Opportunities and
Daily Necessities
Preserve and Build on the Features That
Make a Community Distinctive
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Minimizing Displacement:
An Early Priority in Revitalization
Too often, revitalization efforts in low-income
or overburdened neighborhoods end up
displacing long-time residents. To address
this unintended impact, municipalities and
community organizations are using strategies
that draw needed resources and amenities
into established neighborhoods while helping
existing residents and the commercial, service,
and cultural establishments they value remain
there. A proactive and comprehensive approach
to minimizing displacement encompasses
affordable housing, commercial stabilization,
economic and workforce development,
supportive land use policies, and community
The Fruitvale Main Street program, led by the Unity Council,
a community development corporation, promotes the
annual Dfa de los Muertos celebration.
Photo courtesy of the Unity Council.
engagement. Affordable housing strategies are
discussed later in this chapter.
To increase the likelihood of success, local
governments and community-based
organizations should initiate efforts to mitigate
displacement as soon as revitalization planning
begins rather than waiting until projects are
underway. A community assessment is one
way to start. Planners can use demographic
data to understand who lives and works in a
neighborhood and how this may change over
time. Key indicators measured at the Census block
or block group level, such as rent as a percentage
of household income and combined housing and
transportation costs, can help identify residents
that are particularly vulnerable to displacement.
The government of the District of Columbia
mapped and scored median household incomes,
median home values, projected rise in home
values, the proportion of renters to homeowners,
and the proximity to subway stations for small
neighborhood areas throughout the city. Planners
aggregated the scores to produce an indicator
of pressure on housing affordability for each
location, which will inform future policy-making.
Land use policies
Municipalities and their community partners
can mitigate displacement by making sure that
supportive land use and development regulations
are in place. First, they can work together to map
out important commercial, industrial, service,
and cultural sites; determine how these land
uses fit into the zoning plan; and identify needed
updates. For instance, if the community wants
to protect local businesses, the municipality
could create a special use district to encourage
small, neighborhood-serving businesses or
permit developers to build at greater densities in
commercial districts if they provide retail space
set-asides or other benefits for locally owned
businesses. In San Francisco, where production,
distribution, and repair-related industries provide
over 10 percent of the city's total employment,
the municipality has updated the zoning code
to retain those businesses in the redeveloping
eastern neighborhoods, where rising property
TRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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values were displacing traditional industrial
uses.46-47 As discussed in the housing section,
ordinances that allow inclusionary zoning,
mixed-use and transit-oriented development,
multifamily housing, and smaller lot sizes can help
residents afford housing and transportation costs
and reduce the likelihood that they will need to
relocate.
Commercial stabilization
Small, locally owned enterprises serve
neighborhood residents, generate jobs, support
the neighborhood economy, and keep money
in the community. These institutions are also
critical to the distinctive character of a place and
to residents'sense of belonging and ownership.
When these businesses are healthy, they are more
likely to stay through neighborhood changes.
Many governments and organizations have
created programs to support neighborhood
businesses. Municipal assistance often begins
with capital investments in streets, sidewalks,
parks, and lighting in commercial districts. Local
governments can offer merchants grants or low-
interest loans to renovate their storefronts.
Some local governments and organizations
sponsor training for small businesses on topics
such as merchandising, marketing, and how
to take advantage of financial opportunities
like the Enterprise Zone Tax Credit program,
which provides tax incentives to businesses in
economically distressed areas. Other business
assistance programs include education about
upcoming development and zoning changes
and their implications for the business climate.
Some municipalities hire lawyers to help local
businesses obtain longer-term leases.
Many locally owned businesses receive aid from
the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main
Street program, which supports commercial
district revitalization.The Fruitvale Main
Street Program, in a predominantly Latino
neighborhood of East Oakland, California, was
one of the first Main Street programs. Led by
the Unity Council, a community development
corporation, the program has coordinated
infrastructure investments, provided grants to
help more than 100 businesses renovate their
storefronts, promoted the annual Dfa de los
Muertos celebration, and offered assistance
to businesses, many of which are owned by
immigrants, to improve their products and
customer service.48
Economic development for existing residents
When revitalization brings jobs and other direct
economic benefits to existing residents, they are
less vulnerable to displacement. Federal agencies
funding infrastructure and other projects in
communities have goals for contracting and
subcontracting with minority- and woman-
owned companies, small businesses, and
other disadvantaged enterprises. Some states,
metropolitan planning organizations, and
municipalities set their own goals for working
with minority- and woman-owned companies,
working with small and local businesses, and
The Fruitvale Public Market is a small business incubator
that provides attractive, affordable storefront space and
professional technical assistance services to
micro-enterprises.The market's eleven small businesses,
specializing in Latin American items, have access to business
planning, management, and marketing resources to help
sustain and grow their enterprises.
Photo courtesy of the Unity Council.
46 San Francisco Planning Department. Industrial Land in San
Francisco: Understanding Production, Distribution, and Repair. 2002.
sf-planning.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=4893.
47 San Francisco, California Planning Code §210.7-230.
48 PolicyLink. Equitable DevelopmentToolkit.www.policylink.org/
site/c.lklXI_bMNJrE/b.5136575/k.39A1/Equitable Development
Toolkit.htm. Accessed 2011.
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The Fort Lauderdale, Florida Housing Authority's Step-
Up Apprenticeship Program provides young people
with construction training as they complete their GEDs.
Apprentices built all the cabinets for the Northwest Gardens
affordable housing development, and some have since
found full-time positions. Photo courtesy of Fernando Lezcano.
hiring minority workers. For example, the
Metropolitan Council, the regional planning
agency serving Minnesota's Twin Cities, aims
to attain! 8 percent minority and 6 percent
female workforce participation for its Central
Corridor light rail transit project.These goals
reflect the local communities'demographics
rather than the demographics of the county or
region.49 Municipalities and community-based
organizations can help meet those goals by
working with developers and contractors to
recruit and train residents. Local governments can
partner with nonprofits or community colleges to
provide job training programs on relevant skills
such as brownfields assessment and cleanup or
rehabilitation of historic properties. To address
the undersupply of trained and certified minority
construction workers in its area, the Metropolitan
Council has partnered with the Urban League,
nonprofit vocational training centers, labor
unions, and construction companies to host
workshops and develop a website called LRT
Works that matches workers with jobs, companies,
and unions.50 More than 1,500 workers have
signed up since it launched in November 2010.51
Companies are regularly posting jobs on the site,
and the Metropolitan Council is using it to meet
or exceed minority and female hiring goals for the
Central Corridor project.52
Some community-based organizations have
negotiated community benefits agreements—
private contracts between a developer and a
community group that establish the benefits
the community will receive from a development
project. These agreements can be vehicles for
resident involvement in decision-making and can
ensure that the project incorporates workforce
development, including local hiring and training
programs and living wages, as well as other
community priorities such as affordable housing
and green buildings.
It is important to ensure that the economic
benefits for existing residents continue after
redevelopment efforts are complete and that
high-quality, permanent jobs are created.
Municipalities can collaborate with developers to
recruit small businesses and other commercial,
office, and industrial tenants that will hire locally.
They can also encourage green industries—
manufacturing, assembly, and distribution
businesses creating sustainable products and
services or working to improve environmental
quality—that provide well-paying jobs and
make use of industrial land. Community
organizations can host job placement centers
in the neighborhood and work with social
service providers to identify candidates for open
positions. Community development corporations
can be helpful, as neighborhood revitalization
and economic development are fundamental
parts of their missions.
49 Kirkpatrick, Wanda."Met Council committed to minority hiring on
light-rail construction."Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. February
15,2012. www.spokesman-recorder.com/?p= 10649.
50 Metropolitan Council. LRT Works, www.lrtworks.org. Accessed 2012.
51 Kirkpatrick, Wanda."Met Council committed to minority hiring on
light-rail construction."Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. February
15,2012. www.spokesman-recorder.com/?p= 10649.
52 Job Connect and LRT Works. Workforce Solutions and Metropolitan
Council Light Rail Partnership Update. 2011. www.Jobconnectmn.
govoffice2.com/vertical/sites/%7B820AFFA9-77FF-4A3E-8D63-
OACC66FB6C97%7D/uploads/MASTER - Summary for Light Rail
Construction Project 9-14-11.pdf.
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Facilitate Meaningful Community
Engagement in Planning and
Land Use Decisions
Meaningful community participation and
leadership in planning and land use decision-
making can ensure that revitalization is a
community-based process that builds on local
values and assets and brings the amenities that
residents need. Every strategy in this report
must be supported by early and consistent
stakeholder engagement to be effective.
Inclusive involvement results in planning and
development decisions that have been improved
by a variety of perspectives, have authentic
support from a broad range of constituents, and
are more enduring and better for the community
as a whole. Obtaining input from groups not
historically engaged in planning can help reduce
the disproportionate environmental harms and
health impacts they often face and make sure
that future development brings fair access to new
opportunities. For developers, it can lead to more
predictable development processes and reduce
costly delays caused by community opposition.
Robust and inclusive community engagement
requires proactive work by both decision-makers
and community members. Government staff
should maintain an open relationship with the
public throughout the planning process. An
important initial step is to identify all affected
stakeholders, from residents to local business
owners to representatives of community
institutions. These constituents should be invited
to provide input early so their needs and visions
for the community can be incorporated before
the plan or project has been shaped. They should
be active participants in collecting information,
identifying challenges and opportunities,
and setting goals. Nonprofit community-
based organizations, including environmental
and social justice organizations, community
development corporations, neighborhood
associations, and community advocacy
groups, are key partners that can help connect
government agencies and residents.
Most local and regional planning and
transportation agencies have established public
involvement procedures that include public
meetings at key stages when developing plans
or reviewing projects. They often issue written
communications such as news releases and
draft documents and solicit feedback through
online surveys or social media tools. However,
it is important for planners to go beyond the
minimum requirements and to address factors
that can keep people from engaging. Many
residents have never participated in public
decision-making and might not be familiar
with the process or feel comfortable sharing
their views with officials. They might not have
reliable transportation to and from meetings,
be able to afford child care during meetings, be
able to take time off from workto attend, have
access to the Internet, or speak fluent English. To
achieve a comprehensive public process, officials
should seek out and facilitate the involvement of
stakeholders who are not traditionally engaged in
planning using the approaches in this section. To
institutionalize the diverse needs and interests of
traditionally underrepresented communities over
the long term, it is important that they are fairly
represented on city councils, planning and zoning
boards, county commissions, transportation
agency boards, and other governing bodies.
At the same time, to be effective, community
members and organizations might need to
seek out opportunities to engage and ways to
collect information and present it to decision-
makers. Community-based groups can use the
approaches provided in this section to gather
evidence of local needs and develop visions and
targeted goals to inform the planning process.
Three engagement strategies that are particularly
applicable to planning and land use decision-
making are described here: multilingual outreach,
community assessments, and community
planning and visioning workshops.These
can be led by local government agencies,
community groups, or partnerships between
them. For instance, a planning agency could hold
multilingual public workshops to collect ideas
for a neighborhood plan; to prepare for these
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workshops, a neighborhood-based nonprofit
organization could conduct visioning sessions for
residents who are new to the planning process.
Conduct Multilingual Outreach
Outreach to non-English speakers is increasingly
important for effective and inclusive public
processes. The number of U.S. residents whose
primary language is not English has grown over
recent decades, spurring local governments to
find new ways of engaging the public. According
to the 2000 U.S. Census, nearly 11 million
Americans have limited English proficiency.53
Comprehensive public engagement programs
result in solutions that are better for residents
and municipalities. An inclusive approach can
help government agencies tailor their programs
to users, making them more effective and
popular among residents. For example, some
transportation authorities have found that
improving outreach to non-English-speaking
groups increases ridership and public support for
their services.54
Inclusive outreach is required for transportation,
housing, and other infrastructure projects that use
federal funding. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights
Act prohibits discrimination based on national
origin by failing to make activities supported by
the federal government accessible to people with
limited English proficiency.55 Executive Order
13166 requires federally assisted programs to
provide written documents in the languages
of groups likely to be affected by the particular
program. The order also calls for interpretation
and translation, such as translating websites and
brochures and providing multilingual phone lines
and customer service staff.56
Many transportation and land use planning
agencies regularly provide information and
materials for non-English speakers.The transit
agency in Houston,Texas provides printed
information in five languages.57 In Orange County,
California, several staff in the transit agency's
customer relations department speak Spanish
or Vietnamese, and press releases and other
written materials are submitted to Spanish and
Vietnamese print and broadcast media.58 The
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority uses a Spanish-language blog called El
Pasajero (The Passenger) to serve the 61 percent of
its riders and 37 percent of the agency's workforce
that speak Spanish.59
Staff and volunteers from nonprofit organizations
can help improve communication between the
government and the community. With their
understanding of the community's culture,
needs, and objectives, these liaisons can help
educate and engage residents, prepare for and
conduct public meetings, provide translation
assistance, and serve as facilitators. Government
agencies can contract with or provide grants
to community-based organizations to ensure
a long-term relationship, formalize a workplan,
and provide financial compensation for
their services. The Twin Cities'Corridors of
Opportunity is a regional planning effort funded
by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) and Living Cities that
focuses on the area's growing network of transit
corridors.This initiative is providing $750,000 in
grants to community organizations to engage
underrepresented communities in planning and
implementation.Ten grants have already been
awarded for activities such as training Community
Outreach Ambassadors to engage Southeast
Asian residents, conducting educational forums
on transit for the Somali community, and
improving communication with new immigrant
populations.60
53 U.S. Census Bureau. Census 2000, SF3 Sample Data.Table QT-P17,
Ability to Speak English: 2000.
54 U.S. Government Accountability Office. Transportation Services:
Better Dissemination and Oversight of DOT'S Guidance Could Lead
to Improved Access for Limited English-Proficient Populations. 2005.
www.gao.gov/new.items/d0652.pdf.
55 Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,42 U.S.C. 2000d, et seq.
56 Exec. Order No. 13166,65 Fed. Reg. 159 (August 11, 2000).
57 U.S. Department of Transportation. Public Involvement Techniques
for Transportation Decision-Making: Ethnic, Minority, and Low-
Income Groups. 1996.www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/pittd/ethmin.htm.
58 Orange County Transit Authority. Orange County Transportation
Limited-English Proficiency Plan. 2011. www.octa.net/pdf/lepplan.
pdf.
59 Behrens, Zach."Metro Launches Spanish Language Blog, El
Pasajero." KCET. April 8,2011. www.kcet.org/updaily/socal focus/
transportation/metro-spanish-blog-32151.html.
60 Corridors of Opportunity Community Engagement Team. Engage
Twin Cities, engagetc.org/about/. Accessed 2011.
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Case Study:
Inclusive Neighborhood Planning
Seattle, Washington
The city of Seattle used innovative neighborhood
planning approaches to give the culturally
diverse Othello community a voice in the
development around a new light rail station.
Opened in July 2009, the Othello station is
on a light rail line running through Rainier
Valley, which links downtown Seattle to Sea-
Tac International Airport. An inclusive planning
process went beyond minimum requirements to
engage Othello's historically underrepresented
communities.Today, the station is surrounded
by a vibrant and diverse neighborhood with
shopping, a library, a community college, and
affordable homes.
Othello is located in southeast Seattle, and nearly
50 percent of its residents are foreign-born. The
broader southeast area has a variety of income
levels, with affluent neighborhoods and two large
public housing projects.
In the 1990s, the city asked community members
in 38 neighborhoods to create neighborhood
plans to guide future growth. Since the adoption
of the original neighborhood plans, Seattle has
grown in population, jobs, and diversity. With
new housing demand, real estate prices have
increased in some working-class neighborhoods.
There has also been significant development
interest around light rail stations. As a result, the
city decided to update three neighborhood plans
in southeast Seattle, including Othello's. For this
effort, the city would draw on its Race and Social
Justice Initiative, created in 2002 to end race-
based disparities in city programs and services.
To update the plans, the city engaged thousands
of people using an online survey and traditional
neighborhood meetings. It also employed
special outreach liaisons to work with members
of historically underrepresented communities,
including Cambodian, Somali, Amharic,
Vietnamese, Latino, Native American, and African-
American communities, youth, and persons with
disabilities. Before the city's public meetings, the
liaisons translated materials and held smaller
To update the Othello neighborhood plan, the city of
Seattle engaged thousands of people using traditional
community meetings as well as an online survey and other
approaches. Photo courtesy of City of Seattle.
The city employed outreach liaisons to work with members
of historically underrepresented communities, including
Cambodian, Somali, Amharic, Vietnamese, Latino, Native
American, and African-American communities, youth, and
persons with disabilities. Photo courtesy of City of Seattle.
meetings with their constituents. At first, few
community members attended the city's public
meetings. However, attendance grew over time,
with participation increasing from approximately
10 to between 300 and 400 residents per meeting.
Altogether, the city provided information to
3,000 people and 1,600 became involved in the
planning initiatives.
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When the city talked with the Othello community
about the planned light rail station, the residents
said they wanted a town center that would
support the existing multicultural business
district, make walking safer and more pleasant
using sidewalks and landscaping, and provide
affordable housing for working families. Multiple
partners collaborated to help realize the
community's vision, including Sound Transit, the
Seattle Housing Authority, the city's Department
of Planning and Development, local developer
Othello Partners, and USAA Bank.
The new station provides easy access to
the Seattle Housing Authority's NewHolly
neighborhood, which includes 1,450 homes for
people with a range of incomes. A branch of the
Seattle Public Library, South Seattle Community
College, and a new walking and biking path are
within walking distance of the development.
Three additional housing complexes are planned
near the Othello station, primarily for low-income
buyers. A development of 435 homes has been
completed, and a 420,000-square-foot, mixed-use
project with 352 residences is planned.
"To truly achieve equitable development and
smart growth, there must be strategies and
investments that create anchors to hold in place
those communities most at risk of displacement
due to real estate pressures,"says Nora Liu,
Neighborhood Planning Manager for the city of
Seattle."In this way, improvements to the built
environment can benefit those who are there
now as well as new residents seeking a more
sustainable way to live."61
"To truly achieve equitable
development and smart growth,
there must be strategies and
investments that create anchors to
hold in place those communities
most at risk of displacement due to
real estate pressures" says Nora Liu,
Neighborhood Planning Manager for
the city of Seattle.
During the planning process, Othello residents developed
a vision of a town center that would support the existing
business district, offer affordable housing, and provide
facilities to make walking safe and pleasant.
Photo courtesy of City of Seattle.
61 For references, see page 75.
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Conduct Community Assessments
Conventional planning processes might not
always capture detailed information about specific
community challenges or priorities. A community
assessment can empower residents to fill those
gaps. In a community assessment, community
members gather, analyze, and report information
to produce a more complete picture of current
conditions, needs, and available resources. An
assessment typically focuses on a priority issue in
a specific area, such as housing or transportation
options in a neighborhood. Examples include
walkability audits, which evaluate the safety and
convenience of the walking environment, and
community food assessments, which analyze the
availability of healthy food options.
Community assessments are usually conducted
by community organizations and residents
and often receive support from government
agencies, academic institutions, and foundations.
Experts and residents work together to establish
indicators that show current conditions and
measure future progress. They also identify how to
collect information most effectively. Participants
usually conduct an on-the-ground assessment;
supplementary information can be gathered
through interviews, surveys, and focus groups, or
by obtaining outside data. After the assessment,
participants determine how to share findings
with decision-makers and the broader public and
integrate them into planning processes.
In Bakersfield, California, the Greenfield Walking
Group, comprised primarily of Spanish-speaking
female farm workers, teamed with the Central
California Regional Obesity Prevention Program
to spearhead a walkability assessment of a local
park. The group identified areas of the park that
were unsafe, discouraged physical activity, or were
unwelcoming to children.Their findings led to
several improvements, including the construction
of a walking path and playground.62
With support from EPA, the Walkable and Livable
Communities Institute conducted a walkability
workshop with the residents of the predominantly
African American 26th ward in St. Louis, Missouri.
Participants joined a facilitated walk around the
neighborhood where they identified barriers to
walkability such as crime, excessive vehicle speeds,
street closures, and a lack of walking and bicycling
routes to the nearby light rail station. Residents
and experts then explored solutions, such as
organizing a community-based Active Living
Working Group to prioritize efforts and pursue
funding, fixing broken pedestrian crossing signals,
and reconnecting barricaded streets.63
Community assessments often require funding
and expertise. While some communities obtain
these resources through grants or partnerships
with government agencies, nonprofits, or
academic institutions, others engage skilled
volunteers such as graduate students with
mapping or planning knowledge. Alternatively,
using "off-the-shelf"tools, such as pre-prepared
zoning code audits, can allow community groups
to complete assessments independently.
Community assessments provide credible data
that community organizations and government
staff can use to document needs, secure grants,
and inform future neighborhood investments.They
can also lead to helpful new relationships among
citizens, organizations, and government partners.
62 The California Endowment. The Greenfield Walking Group-
Transforming a Park, Transforming a Community. 2002.
www.partnershipph.org/sites/default/flles/Greenfield
WalkingGroup.pdf.
Residents of St. Louis, Missouri's 26th Ward conduct a
walking audit of their neighborhood, where they identify
barriers to walkability such as crime, high vehicle speeds,
and a lack of good pedestrian and bicycle routes to the
nearby light-rail station. Photo courtesy of Eric Friedman,
Housing and Community Solutions, Inc.
63 Walkableand LivableCommunitieslnstitute.SuggesfedWexfSfeps
os Outcome of Technical Assistance, 26th Ward, St. Louis, Mo. 2011.
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Hold Community Planning and
Visioning Workshops
Defining a shared vision and goals for a site,
neighborhood, city, town, or region is the first
step in the planning process and the foundation
for subsequent land use policy and regulatory
changes and investments in the community.
Community planning and visioning
workshops can be sponsored by public
agencies, non-governmental organizations,
and private developers. These workshops
are usually managed by facilitators who lead
participants through structured discussions
and design exercises, and they often produce
visual representations of the community's
desired future, such as maps and drawings.
After the workshop, the results, along with
recommendations on how to achieve the
vision, are shared with the broader public and
decision-makers and integrated into planning
processes. Workshops can be completed in one
day or include multiple meetings scheduled over
several months. Multi-day collaborative planning
events where stakeholders create a plan and
implementation strategy are known as charrettes.
The costs of a workshop or charrette vary
depending on their complexity, technical needs,
and duration.
Local decision-makers typically take part in
planning workshops to learn about the needs
and goals of their constituents. In Gary, Indiana,
elected officials joined community leaders at
a design workshop convened by the American
Planning Association's Planning and the Black
Community Division.Together, they developed a
vision for revitalizing the Broadway corridor that
runs through the heart of Gary's African-American
community.The plan called for reusing vacant
parcels, strengthening community elements
that showcase the area's cultural heritage, and
improving transportation options by creating
nature trails and transit-oriented development.64
Planning and visioning workshops should be
tailored to the specific needs of participants,
especially if they are new to the planning process.
For instance, some community members may not
feel comfortable expressing their ideas in front
of government representatives. In these cases, a
nonprofit organization could hold pre-workshops,
where residents can share their experiences and
concerns comfortably. Conducting pre-workshops
also provides an opportunity for facilitators to
educate participants about strategies that have
been applied in other communities, expanding
their knowledge of potential solutions and
preparing them to collaborate with municipal staff.
Elected officials and community leaders worked together
to develop a vision for revitalizing the Broadway corridor
that runs through the heart of Gary, Indiana's African-
American community. Photo courtesy ofCarlton Bey.
64 American Planning Association, Planning and the Black Community
Division. Vision for Broadway. 2009.www.planning.org/divisions/
blackcommunity/pdf/garyindinana.pdf.
The resident design committee of the High Point
community in Seattle met biweekly to help plan what
redevelopment would look like.
Photo courtesy of Seattle Housing Authority.
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Promote Public Health and a
Clean and Safe Environment
A clean and safe environment and healthy
residents are the ultimate goals of environmental
justice, smart growth, and equitable development.
Homes should be buffered from land uses with
potential environmental concerns like incinerators,
heavy manufacturing plants, and goods
movement facilities. Contaminated sites resulting
from previous industrial activities should be
cleaned up and put to safer use. Buildings, streets,
and other infrastructure should be constructed in
ways that reduce air and water contamination and
improve the health of the people using them. Low-
income, minority, and tribal communities should
not face disproportionate environmental burdens
and should enjoy clean and safe places to live,
work, play, and learn.
Approaches that integrate smart growth and
environmental justice offer ways of arranging land
uses, developing sites, and constructing buildings
that can help protect overburdened populations
from environmental and health hazards and bring
benefits like clean air and water.This section
covers five strategies for planning and developing
healthy, sustainable neighborhoods.The first
two, reducing exposure to facilities with potential
environmental concerns and goods movement
activities, focus on zoning and planning tools that
can help protect the neighbors of existing facilities
and appropriately site and design new ones.
Next, cleaning up and reusing brownfields and
Superfund sites can remove health hazards while
boosting local economies and enhancing quality
of life. The final two strategies, creating green
buildings and green streets, can reduce pollution
and contribute to healthier indoor and outdoor
environments.
In all of these efforts, local public health
departments are important partners who can
strengthen the link between planning and health
by bringing new information and stakeholders to
the table. When engaged in land use planning,
they can help residents identify health issues that
can be addressed in plans, provide and interpret
data documenting local health concerns, organize
workshops and presentations for key decision-
makers on land use policy and health, provide
sample policies, and comment on draft plans.
Reduce Exposure to Facilities with
Potential Environmental Concerns
Proactive and collaborative planning can help
reduce residents'exposure to industrial facilities
and their health effects while preserving the
economic benefits and jobs they provide. These
facilities can be anchors of local economies,
employing residents in permanent, living-wage
positions. But they might also emit pollutants or
create byproducts that can cause environmental
and health problems, so they and their
surrounding neighborhoods should be planned
and designed thoughtfully.
Safe land use planning begins with identifying
land uses that should not usually be located near
each other, such as those that may create health
impacts and those that may affect sensitive
populations (known as "sensitive uses"). Uses
with potential health impacts include sources
of localized air pollution such as industrial
facilities, power plants, truck depots, and
freeways. Sensitive land uses include places
where children, the elderly, people with health
problems exacerbated by poor air quality, and
other vulnerable individuals are likely to be,
such as schools, playgrounds, daycare centers,
nursing homes, and residences. Complete
separation of industrial and other land uses is not
always desirable or necessary, but this section
describes approaches for separating or buffering
future incompatible uses when appropriate and
reducing the environmental and health impacts
of existing ones.
Multi-stakeholder collaboration
Proactive cooperation among community
residents, all levels of government, and business
and industry stakeholders is critical when
working with planned and existing facilities.
Particularly for new projects, multi-stakeholder
collaboration during the planning stage allows
early identification of potential negative impacts,
increases opportunities to make siting decisions
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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or incorporate design features that minimize those
impacts, and helps business owners mitigate
impacts more efficiently and cost effectively.
State and local government collaboration
is important. Municipal planners can work
with state and local environmental, air, and
transportation agencies to understand the
potential health and environmental impacts of
various types of facilities. These agencies can
provide air quality and emissions data, health
risk estimates, and evaluation tools for use in
land use decision-making. In most cases, state
agencies issue permits for air emissions, water
discharges, or waste disposal. Local planners
can help state officials assess potential impacts
on the community, facilitate public input,
and incorporate permitted facilities into their
planning efforts.
Engaging business and industry stakeholders in
planning processes and after facilities have been
built can reduce exposure to pollution while
supporting local economies and employment.
Community-based organizations and industries
are using the Collaborative Problem-Solving
Model and Good Neighbor Agreements to work
more effectively together.
The Collaborative Problem-Solving Model
brings various stakeholders together to address
a particular issue and create a collective vision
with mutually beneficial outcomes. It often
starts with a community-based organization
convening residents, industry stakeholders, and
other relevant partners to identify common
concerns and goals. These discussions can lead to
community capacity building, dispute resolution
and consensus building, the identification of
needed resources, and the development of
work plans.65 The case study in this section
describes ReGenesis, a nonprofit organization
in Spartanburg, South Carolina, that used the
Collaborative Problem-Solving Model to build
multi-stakeholder partnerships and tackle
complex health and environmental issues.
A Good Neighbor Agreement is a formally
negotiated agreement that establishes a
relationship between an industry and a
community organization. Some are voluntary
and nonbinding while others are legally binding
and created as conditions in formal permitting
processes. Although a number of Good Neighbor
Agreements have been created in reaction to
accidents or other problems, others have been
negotiated proactively to reduce pollution,
increase well-paying jobs for local residents,
set aside land in conservation easements,
reduce vehicle traffic, and facilitate access to
information.66
Municipal planning, zoning, and permitting
tools
Working with community, state, and industry
stakeholders, municipal agencies can use
planning, zoning, and permitting tools to plan
and site proposed facilities safely and reduce
residents'exposure to existing facilities. The
comprehensive plan, developed with input from
community members and business stakeholders,
can lay out general goals, objectives, and
policies for facility siting. For instance, the
land use section of the plan could identify
areas appropriate for future industrial uses
and introduce design parameters that reduce
exposure to these uses when they already exist
close to residential neighborhoods.67
Zoning ordinances can set minimum separation
distances for specific facility types or create
buffer zones, which are zoning districts that
serve as transitional areas between incompatible
land uses. Buffer zones can include open spaces
or light commercial uses. Vegetation or other
types of physical screening can also be used to
buffer some incompatible uses.
Conditional use permits allow land uses with
potentially significant environmental or health
impacts only under certain conditions. These
65 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. EPA's Environmental
Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model. 2008. www.epa.
gov/environmentaljustice/resources/publications/grants/cps-
manual-12-27-06.pdf.
66 Civic Practices Network. Good Neighbor Agreements: A Tool
for Environmental and Social Justice, www.cpn.org/topics/
environment/goodneighbor.html. Accessed 2012.
67 California Air Resources Board. Air Quality and Land Use Handbook:
A Community Health Perspective. 2005. www.arb.ca.gov/ch/landuse.
htm.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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Auto-body shops and other facilities with potential
environmental and health concerns are interspersed with
homes in National City, California's Westside neighborhood,
a primarily low-income and minority community. The city
is developing a tool that will help staff evaluate the health
risks posed by these types of land uses and the costs of
moving them. Photo courtesy of National City.
permits include special requirements to ensure
that facilities will not be detrimental to their
surroundings. In Huntington Park, California,
permits for facilities in commercial, office,
and mixed-use zones depend on the facility's
proximity to homes and the potential level
of adverse impact. The city can also require
mitigation and reduction of diesel emissions
generated by expanded or new facilities or
operations.68
Local governments can use performance zoning
to regulate the impacts of land uses by providing
standards to limit nuisance-like activities.
These standards treat all similar projects
equally, reserving the more resource-intensive
conditional use permit for projects that require
more detailed analysis. Examples of performance
standards include limiting hours of operation
to reduce emissions exposure, requiring
fleet operators to use cleaner vehicles when
expanding their fleets, and providing alternate
truck routes that avoid residential areas.69
Municipalities can also establish overlay zones,
which set additional requirements for existing
zoning districts, such as industrial zones close
to residential neighborhoods. The city of Austin,
Texas, created the East Austin Overlay District,
where any new facility with operations more
intense than a commercial use must obtain a
conditional use permit and notify residents. If
industrial facilities within the district closed,
another ordinance authorized rezoning those
sites to less intensive use categories.70
When residents, businesses, and policy-makers
have developed a collaborative vision for their
community and zoning laws do not match that
vision, they might choose to rezone particular
areas or the entire jurisdiction. When seeking
the rezoning of small areas, stakeholders might
find it helpful to document the incompatibility
of the existing land use classifications and
the impacts on health, safety, and community
character; pursue rezoning before specific
development proposals arise; and avoid singling
out specific properties, instead considering
clusters of neighboring parcels with similar use
designations and impacts.71 Comprehensive
rezoning is a lengthy undertaking that provides
many opportunities for stakeholder input.
Where facilities already exist and affect nearby
populations, local government agencies,
industry stakeholders, and residents can work
together to identify a solution that advances
the community's overall health, environmental,
and economic goals. Many municipalities
"grandfather" land uses that were allowed before
current zoning laws. However, municipalities can
prohibit grandfathering when these uses conflict
with the goals of updated comprehensive plans
or bring environmental, health, or economic risks.
68 National Academy of Public Administration. Addressing Community
Concerns: How EnvironmentalJustice Relates to Land Use Planning
and Zoning. 2003.www.epa.gov/compliance/ej/resources/reports/
annual-project-reports/napa-land-use-zoning-63003.pdf.
69 California Air Resources Board. Air Quality and Land Use Handbook: A
Community Health Perspective. 2005.www.arb.ca.gov/ch/landuse.htm.
70 National Academy of Public Administration. Addressing Community
Concerns: How EnvironmentalJustice Relates to Land Use Planning
and Zoning. 2003.www.epa.gov/compliance/ej/resources/reports/
annual-project-reports/napa-land-use-zoning-63003.pdf.
71 National Academy of Public Administration. Addressing Community
Concerns: How EnvironmentalJustice Relates to Land Use Planning
and Zoning. 2003.www.epa.gov/compliance/eJ/resources/reports/
annual-project-reports/napa-land-use-zoning-63003.pdf.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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Municipalities can also help relocate
nonconforming uses when owners are interested
in moving to more suitable locations.72 Relocation
decisions should be made collaboratively and
on a case-by-case basis. In some cases, business
owners see clear benefits to moving, such as
access to an upgraded and modernized facility,
access to more supportive infrastructure,
or the opportunity to operate with fewer
environmental or health impacts. Relocation can
allow communities to concentrate industries and
target infrastructure investments—such as water,
wastewater, transportation, telecommunications,
and public transit—to meet their needs. National
City, California is developing a decision support
tool that will help staff evaluate properties with
nonconforming uses according to criteria such as
possible threats to public health and safety, cost
to the owner of moving and reestablishing the
use elsewhere, and adaptability of the property
to a currently permitted use.The city's land
use code allows the city council to phase out
nonconforming uses on the recommendation of
the planning commission.73
When redeveloping vacant land in industrial
areas, planners should carefully consider whether
it is appropriate to build new residences and
other sensitive uses near existing facilities and, if
so, how buildings should be situated on their sites
and designed to mitigate exposure. For example,
zoning codes can require buffers, ventilation
systems, and other measures to ensure healthy
indoor air quality.
72 Salkin, Patricia. EnvironmentalJustice and Land Use Planning and
Zoning. 2004. www.governmentlaw.org/files/EJ land use.pdf.
73 Partnership for Sustainable Communities. National City, California:
Recommendations for Ranking Properties with Nonconforming Uses
in the Westside Specific Plan Area. 2011. www.epa.gov/brownflelds/
sustain pits/reports/property ranking process.pdf.
Reduce Exposure to Goods Movement
Activities
Goods movement is the distribution of freight
by all modes of transportation, including marine,
air, rail, and truck. Goods movement facilities
include seaports, airports, rail yards, rail lines, and
truck loading stations and travel routes, as well
as places where freight is processed and stored
such as warehouses and distribution centers.
These facilities exist in urban communities
where movement originates and terminates
as well as in rural places along transportation
thoroughfares. Effective land use planning, along
with technology and regulations, can reduce
the impacts of goods movement activities so
communities can more safely take advantage of
the economic opportunities they bring.
Many stakeholders are involved in freight
planning, transporting and storing goods, and
designing and operating goods movement
facilities. Although these players vary in every
situation, common stakeholders include
regional planning organizations, transportation
commissions, port authorities, local governments,
industry representatives, and community
development organizations. For example, the
Southern California Association of Governments,
county transportation commissions, the Los
Angeles Metro, and private-sector stakeholders
partnered to develop a regional action plan to
increase the benefits and mitigate the hazards
associated with the growing volume of trucks and
freight trains moving from ports in Los Angeles
and Long Beach.74
Local and regional planning agencies can
work with goods movement stakeholders and
community organizations to design freight
facilities and surrounding neighborhoods
in ways that support health, environmental,
and economic goals. For instance, some are
creating freight clusters that accommodate
goods movement activities in targeted areas
while reducing negative impacts in other
74 LA Metro. Multi-County Goods Movement Action Plan. 2009.
www.metro.net/proiects/mcgmap/.
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neighborhoods.75 In Baltimore, Maryland, the
Maritime Industrial Zoning Overlay District
preserves industrial uses along the city's
waterfront, which is experiencing significant
development pressure and rising rents.The
zoning overlay district preserves jobs in this
accessible center city location and consolidates
the negative impacts of goods movement.76
Other states and localities require buffer zones
between freight facilities and sensitive land uses.
The California Air Resources Board does not allow
school districts to site schools within 500 feet of
highways or other busy traffic corridors.77
Some communities are using a combination of
planning approaches, incentives, regulations,
and technology. In Oakland, California, the
Ditching Dirty Diesel Collaborative is developing
regional strategies to reduce exposure to diesel
emissions from trucks. Funded by foundations
and federal and state agencies, the group
found that average diesel emissions in West
Oakland, a predominantly African-American
community, were 90 times greater than in the
rest of California. They worked with the Bay Area
Air Quality Management District to reduce diesel
pollution through several methods, including
eliminating unlicensed trucktraffk, rerouting
traffic away from residential neighborhoods, and
providing financial incentives to fleet owners to
retire the most polluting trucks.They also secured
an agreement to move trucking businesses away
from residential areas to a decommissioned army
base owned by the city and the Port of Oakland.
The port installed electrical hook-ups so trucks
waiting to enter the port do not need to idle.78
Planners should also consider the design of the
community around goods movement facilities.
They should carefully evaluate whether it is
appropriate to build new residences and other
sensitive land uses nearby and, if so, how the
buildings should be situated on their sites
and designed to mitigate exposure. Planners
can include language in the zoning code that
sets special location or design requirements
for sensitive uses in areas of concern. For
example, San Francisco's Health Code requires
that newly constructed residential buildings
with ten or more units located near major
roadways with concentrations of motor vehicle
pollution be situated or designed to reduce
residents'exposure. Developers can satisfy this
requirement by installing ventilation systems,
locating the building air intake away from the
roadway, locating residential units on the second
floor or higher so they are above roadway
emissions, setting the building back from the
roadway, or planting trees between the building
and the roadway.79
75 U.S. Department ofTransportation. FHWA Freight and Land
Use Handbook. 2012. www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/
fhwahopl 2006/index.htm.
76 U.S. Department ofTransportation. FHWA Freight and Land
Use Handbook. 2012. www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/
fhwahopl 2006/index.htm.
77 California SB 352. Ch. 668 (2003).
78 Palaniappan, Meena. "Ditching Diesel." Race, Poverty and the
Environment. Urban Habitat. Undated, www.urbanhabitat.org/
node/163. Accessed 2011.
79 City and County of San Francisco. Protecting Sensitive Uses from
Roadway Air Pollution Hot Spots: Article 38 of the San Francisco Health
Code, Frequently Asked Questions. 2008. www.sfdph.org/dph/flles/
EHSdocs/AirQualitv/AQFAQ.pdf.
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Clean and Reuse Contaminated
Properties
Brownfields and Superfund sites are
contaminated properties that require special
cleanup and redevelopment strategies. With
planning and remediation, these sites can be
reused for commercial and industrial activities,
housing, parks, and other community facilities
that can boost local economies and improve
quality of life. Since these sites are often located
in established neighborhoods with a mix of uses,
public transit, and compact, walkable designs,
their reuse can provide residents with easily
accessible jobs, services, and amenities.
EPA defines brownfields as properties whose
expansion, redevelopment, or reuse could
be complicated by the presence or potential
presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant,
or contaminant.80 Brownfields are often
abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and
commercial sites.They can be structures or
empty lots. Federal, state, and local governments
provide support for brownfield cleanup and
redevelopment, including tax incentives,
grants, low-interest loans, technical assistance,
protection from liability, and streamlined
government oversight of cleanups.
In contrast to brownfields, Superfund sites have
been designated by EPA as the country's most
contaminated sites. Cleanup can be complex,
often requiring several years to study the issues,
develop solutions, and complete remediation.
Through EPA's Superfund program, administered
with state and tribal governments, the Agency
can clean up hazardous waste sites and compel
responsible parties to perform cleanups or
reimburse the government for cleanup activities.
Additionally, EPA's Superfund Redevelopment
Initiative provides technical, financial, and other
forms of assistance to communities working to
redevelop contaminated land.81 For example,
EPA worked with stakeholders in Oakland,
80 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. About Brownfields.
www.epa.gov/brownfields/about.htm.Accessed 2011.
81 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Superfund Redevelopment.
www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/recycle/index.html.
Accessed 2011.
The redevelopment of Egleston Crossing in Boston,
Massachusetts'Roxbury neighborhood transformed an
auto-body shop with a history of toxic waste problems into
a commercial and residential anchor for the neighborhood.
Photo courtesy of Egleston Crossing.
California to explore future uses of the AMCO
Chemical Superfund site.The community had
envisioned mixed-use, transit-oriented, walkable
development, including affordable housing
and neighborhood-serving retail stores, so the
assistance team created three scenarios that
supported that vision.This reuse assessment
helped residents and decision-makers think
through redevelopment alternatives and identify
appropriate cleanup methods.82
Early and inclusive community involvement
in site cleanup and reuse decisions is critical
to ensure that visions and strategies align
with community needs and benefit existing
residents. Ideally, the municipality, community
stakeholders, and state and federal partners
would identify the preferred future use of the
site before cleanup occurs. If housing is planned
for a brownfield site, for instance, different
cleanup remedies might be required than if
a new industrial facility is to be built. A plan
for the area surrounding the site can further
refine cleanup strategies. Many low-income and
82 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Planning for the Future: Reuse
Assessment for the AMCO Chemical Superfund Site, Oakland, CA. 2010.
www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/recycle/pdf/amco-reuse.pdf.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
minority communities are affected by multiple
contaminated sites and the economic and
environmental challenges associated with them.
By using an area-wide approach rather than
considering one site at a time, communities
can better identify the most productive and
appropriate reuse options, address infrastructure
needs, and spur lasting economic development.
Neighborhood planning and visioning efforts,
feasibility studies, and market and infrastructure
analyses can help municipalities and nonprofit
organizations create and implement informed
area-wide revitalization strategies. EPA's
Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Program
is supporting the city of Ogdensburg, New
York, as it turns a formerly industrial corridor
along its riverfront into a walkable, mixed-use
development. The city is creating an action
plan for the 15 brownfields in the area, with an
inventory of site conditions, reuse opportunities,
and existing infrastructure.83
If site cleanup is already underway,
municipalities, states, and federal agencies
can work together to remove barriers to reuse.
Assessing the reuse potential of properties,
providing education about reuse practices and
opportunities, and encouraging private entities
to invest in reuse can be effective. In addition,
existing zoning ordinances, building codes, and
tax policies might make it difficult to redevelop
contaminated sites and do infill development.84
Planners can remove regulatory barriers and
provide incentives to accomplish these goals,
such as faster project approval and reduced
impact fees.
Early and inclusive community
involvement in site cleanup and
reuse decisions is critical to ensure
that visions and strategies align
with community needs and benefit
existing residents.
The Mission CreekSenior Community in San Francisco,
California transformed a brownfield into an attractive,
mixed-use, low-income senior community. Formerly used
for a sewage pumping station, a box factory, a mill, and
other industrial facilities, the remediated site now contains
affordable senior housing that is 25 feet from a streetcar
stop, two blocks from a commuter rail station, and less than
one block from a bus stop. Photo courtesy of Mercy Housing
California and San Francisco Housing Authority.
83 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Brownfields Area-Wide
Planning Pilot Project Fact Sheet: Ogdensburg, NY. 2010. www.epa.
gov/brownfields/grant announce/awp/awp ogdensburg ny.pdf.
84 Infill development is development or redevelopment of sites
that are already served by infrastructure or surrounded by other
development.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Case Study:
Site Cleanup as a Catalyst for Revitalization
Spartanburg, South Carolina
The Arkwright and Forest Park neighborhoods
in Spartanburg, South Carolina, revitalized their
community through partnerships to clean up
pollution from contaminated sites. The effort was
spearheaded by ReGenesis, an environmental
justice organization whose initial focus on
brownfield cleanups broadened over time to
include revitalization of the entire community.
The ReGenesis initiative eventually led to the
construction of new housing, businesses, a
shopping center, and health clinics.
Located on the edge of Spartanburg's downtown,
the Arkwright and Forest Park neighborhoods are
predominantly African-American. Because of the
lack of zoning before 1976, homes are located
near former industrial and landfill sites and an
active chemical plant. Residents have reported
high rates of illness and death that they attribute
to environmental pollution.The neighborhoods
have also struggled with high unemployment,
poor health services, disinvestment, and run-
down housing.
After his father passed away from an undiagnosed
illness, resident Harold Mitchell began examining
the health impacts faced by residents living near
a former dump and an abandoned fertilizer plant.
He founded ReGenesis in 1997 to bring together
residents who had been affected. He also asked
EPA for assistance. After extensive sampling, EPA
found contaminants such as metals, nitrate, and
fluoride in the soil, ground water, surface water,
and sediment at one of the sites, which was later
designated a Superfund site.
ReGenesis used the Collaborative Problem-
Solving Model to cooperatively address economic
and environmental concerns. ReGenesis began by
connecting existing neighborhood associations in
the Arkwright and Forest Park communities. The
summer of 2000 marked a turning point in the
success and scale of ReGenesis'efforts, when it
held a meeting to discuss the community's visions
and needs with more than 100 people, including
representatives from federal agencies, the county,
"We demonstrated that community residents were
essential components of our efforts in Spartanburg,"says
Harold Mitchell, shown here at a visioning workshop."The
community's deep engagement and commitment were
what made the revitalization of the Arkwright and Forest
Park areas possible." Photo courtesy of'Harold Mitchell.
the city, businesses, and universities.The meeting
uncovered shared priorities among its diverse
participants. As a result, ReGenesis created the
Environmental Justice Partnership, which held
one-on-one meetings and forums with local,
state, and federal government representatives
as well as businesses, politicians, foundations,
and technical experts."You can't put money in a
community and say'Make it happen,'"says Nancy
Whittle, the South Carolina Department of Health
and Environmental Control community liaison
who took part in ReGenesis' many revitalization
forums. "You build community capacity with time
and patience."
ReGenesis continued to seek allies, including
non-traditional partners. For example, ReGenesis
invited the local chemical plant to collaborate
despite the community's concerns about the
health effects of its operations. Although the
initial relationship was contentious, both sides
wanted to avoid hostilities and lengthy legal
debates, so they agreed to use a proactive
approach known as facilitated dialogue. In this
case, facilitated dialogue involved inviting an
independent third party respected by both sides
to facilitate conversations between the two
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
"You can't put money in a community
and say 'Make it happen"'says
Nancy Whittle, the South Carolina
Department of Health and
Environmental Control community
liaison who took part in ReGenesis'
many revitalization forums.
"You build community capacity with
time and patience."
groups. Their weekly telephone conferences and
face-to-face meetings resulted in improved noise
and odor controls, enhanced health and safety
procedures, air and groundwater monitoring,
local job creation, new emergency preparedness
practices, and facility beautification.
With the support of its partners, ReGenesis
obtained the grants, technical assistance,
and in-kind assistance necessary to achieve
the community's revitalization vision.This
support provided the opportunity to establish
a community visioning process through design
charrettes, where drawings and ideas for a
parkway, a park, affordable housing, shopping
areas, an entertainment center, a job training
center, a health clinic, and other facilities were
Many community members participated in design
charrettes for the Arkwright and Forest Park neighborhoods,
where ideas for a park, affordable housing, shopping areas, a
health clinic, and other amenities were developed.
Photo courtesy of Harold Mitchell.
developed. ReGenesis had raised $166 million by
2006, the result of the organization's efforts to
work with stakeholders from all sectors to realize
the community vision. "We demonstrated that
community residents were essential components
of our efforts in Spartan burg," says Harold
Mitchell, now a member of the South Carolina
House of Representatives. "The community's deep
engagement and commitment were what made
the revitalization of the Arkwright and Forest Park
areas possible."
With strong support from the mayor and
county, state, and federal officials, the ReGenesis
partnerships led to change. As part of a HOPE VI
housing project, businesses owned by women
and minorities and unemployed residents
who had completed a job training program
built affordable homes.Through a $2.2 million
appropriation, Congress funded a study of
alternate access roads to link neighborhoods
divided by railroad tracks. ReGenesis also worked
with the environmental group Upstate Forever
to create green space and trails along the
nearby creek, complementing a senior housing
development constructed on a cleaned-up
brownfield site. "Smart growth is possible with
an informed and empowered community,"says
Cynthia Peurifoy, environmental justice program
manager for EPA Region 4. "The ReGenesis story
teaches us that community-driven redevelopment
efforts can bring great results."85
85 For references, see page 75.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Promote Green Building
Green buildings use sustainable siting, design,
and materials to create healthy indoor and
outdoor environments. When designed and
operated appropriately, green buildings can
reduce exposure to toxics and pollutants that
have been linked to cancer, asthma, and other
health problems. Green buildings often include
natural landscaping features to capture and filter
polluted runoff that would otherwise flow into
water bodies.They also use innovative practices
and technologies to reduce energy and water
consumption and costs.86-87These practices bring
significant benefits for low-income families,
who spend 19 to 26 percent of their household
incomes on energy.The lowest-income families
can spend even more.88-89 When green buildings
are located in walkable and transit-accessible
neighborhoods, they can further reduce
household energy use and expenditures.90
There are a range of green building certification
programs nationwide. Two of the most widespread
are the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and EPA's
ENERGY STAR Homes programs. LEED provides
green building guidelines and certification,
rating buildings based on their performance in
five areas: sustainable site development, water
savings, energy efficiency, materials selection,
and indoor environmental quality. ENERGY STAR
Homes qualifies new homes that meet its energy
efficiency guidelines. Builders participating
in the program work with certified experts to
incorporate features—including insulation, high-
performance windows, and efficient heating and
cooling equipment—that can make homes 20 to
30 percent more efficient than standard homes.
86 Turner, Cathy and Frankel, Mark. Energy Performance of LEED for New
Construction Buildings: Final Report. New Buildings Institute. 2008.
www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentlD=3930.
87 Kats, Greg. The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings: A
Report to California's Sustainable Building Task Force. 2003.
www.usgbc.org/Docs/News/News477.pdf.
88 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Utility Bills
Burden the Poor and Can Cause Homelessness. 2009.
www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/library/energy/homelessness.cfm.
89 Trisko, Eugene. The Rising Burden of Energy Costs on American
Families, 1997-2007. 2006.
90 Jonathan Rose Companies. Location Efficiency and Housing Type:
Boiling it Down to BTUs. 2011. www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/
location efficiency BTU.pdf.
The redevelopment of Egleston Crossing in Boston's
Roxbury neighborhood incorporated green building
features that reduce energy consumption and utility costs
while enhancing indoor air quality and improving residents'
health. Photo courtesy of Egleston Crossing.
The Enterprise Green Communities Criteria is
another certification system designed specifically
for affordable housing, providing cost-effective
green building practices that can be integrated
into all affordable housing types, including new
construction and rehabilitation in multifamily and
single-family homes. Homeowners and developers
can also incorporate green building techniques
without seeking certification through one of these
programs.
Community organizations and municipalities
around the country are working with nonprofits,
foundations, and other private entities to
incorporate green design in their development
projects. In Chicago, Bethel New Life (profiled
on page 51) built a LEED-certified community
center on a cleaned-up brownfield. Public housing
developers are also using green designs to create
healthier environments for residents and reduce
their own operating costs. High Point, a HOPE VI
public housing redevelopment in Seattle, uses
green building strategies to improve water and
energy efficiency, enhance indoor air quality, and
manage runoff.91-92
Community organizations are also using green
building practices to tackle health hazards in older
91 Seattle Housing Authority. HOPE VI Program, www.seattlehousing.
org/redevelopment/hope-vi. Accessed 2011.
92 The High Point Redevelopment project won EPA's National Award
for Smart Growth Achievement in 2007. For more information, see
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,"2007 National Award
for Smart Growth Achievement"at www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/
awards/sg awards publication 2007.htm.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
PROMOTE PUBLIC HEALTH AND A CLEAN AND SAFE ENVIRONMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
homes.The National Coalition to End Childhood
Lead Poisoning is coordinating the Green and
Healthy Homes Initiative to train workers to deal
with health concerns such as deteriorating lead-
based paint, mold, poor ventilation, and pests, and
to boost their energy efficiency.93
Build Green Streets
Rainwater that washes over pavement carries
pollutants such as motor oil and grease directly
into streams, lakes, rivers, and bays. These
pollutants can come into contact with humans
through drinking water and in other ways. A green
street uses natural landscaping to collect, filter,
and cleanse polluted runoff by mimicking natural
processes where rainfall evaporates, is taken up
by plants, or drains into the soil. Almost any type
of street can be greened, including main arterial
roads, residential streets, and alleys.
Green streets can incorporate a variety of
elements, including rain gardens, sidewalk
planters, tree boxes, landscaped medians, and
permeable paving. These elements are also known
as green infrastructure. The plants and soils used
in gardens, medians, and planters help to filter and
break down pollutants. Trees catch and absorb
rainfall and help water to evaporate. Green street
designs sometimes reduce the amount of hard
surface by narrowing the street. Porous materials
such as permeable pavement can also replace
portions of streets typically covered by concrete
and asphalt.
Green streets improve air quality by intercepting
small particles of air pollutants and reducing "heat
islands"that occur when concrete and asphalt are
heated during hot weather.94 They can beautify
neighborhoods and calm traffic, making walking
and biking safer and more enjoyable. Green streets
can also reduce the risk of localized flooding
and the need for more costly traditional "grey"
infrastructure—such as expanded sewer systems
and water treatment facilities—to handle runoff.
£
93 Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning. Green and Healthy
Homes Initiative, www.greenandhealthyhomes.org. Accessed 2011.
94 According to EPA, heat islands are built up areas that are hotter
than nearby rural areas. For more information, see the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency,"Heat Island Effect"at
www.epa.gov/heatisld.
Before (above) and after (below) green street facilities
were created through a Safe Routes to School project at
Humboldt Elementary School, located in an underserved
area of Portland, Oregon. Photo courtesy of Environmental
Services, City of Portland, Oregon.
Green street projects run the gamut from large
and complex to relatively simple and low-cost.
Planners can ensure that street design standards
encourage the use of green infrastructure
elements in all types of projects. The city of
Portland, Oregon approved a resolution in 2007
to promote green street features in public and
private developments. The resolution directed city
agencies to work together to install green streets
and integrate them into the city's land use and
transportation plans. Projects resulting from the
resolution include street planters at Portland State
University, an elementary school rain garden, and
permeable pavement around the city.95 In San
Francisco, the nonprofit Plant*SF worked with
city agencies to streamline permitting for green
sidewalk projects such as planters, tree boxes, and
rain gardens.The organization also created a guide
to help individuals, businesses, and neighborhood
groups obtain permits and design and install their
own sidewalk landscaping.96
95 Portland Bureau of Environmental Services. Portland Green Street
Program. www.portlandonline.com/BES/index.cfm?c=44407.
Accessed 2011.
96 Plant*SF. Plant*SF. www.plantsf.org. Accessed 2011.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
PROMOTE PUBLIC HEALTH AND A CLEAN AND SAFE ENVIRONMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Case Study:
Greening a Small Town Main Street
Edmonston, Maryland
Edmonston, Maryland's Green Street Project
marries new and old technologies to reduce
pollution, conserve energy, manage stormwater
runoff, and redesign the town's main
thoroughfare, Decatur Street. Spearheaded by
Mayor Adam Ortiz, a citizens'advisory group, and
the Chesapeake Bay Trust, this project redefines
the street as more than just cars and asphalt.
Completed in November 2010, Edmonston's
green street protects the regional watershed, lays
a foundation for reinvestment in the town center,
and is already inspiring other communities to
implement similar projects.
Located near Washington, D.C., Edmonston is
a port town that extends on both sides of the
Anacostia River.The town sits in a low-lying
area, and has suffered frequent flooding since
its incorporation in the 1920s. During the past
decade alone, Edmonston flooded four times,
and a 2006 flood submerged 56 homes."Contrary
to conventional wisdom, we don't flood from
the Anacostia River,"says Mayor Ortiz. "We flood
because of parking lots, shopping centers,
highways, and roofs." Stormwater runoff from these
hard surfaces not only contributes to flooding, but
also carries pollutants into the Anacostia River and
ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.
For Mayor Ortiz, the flooding problem was as
much a social justice issue as an environmental
one, as the town's sizable lower-income and
immigrant populations were most affected.
Shortly after the 2006 flood, the town began
searching for long-term solutions.
With a $25,000 grant from the Chesapeake
Bay Trust, the town tasked a local research
organization, the Low Impact Development
Center, to examine stormwater options along
Decatur Street.The mayor and city council formed
a volunteer "Green Team" of residents, students,
engineers, designers, and representatives
from environmental and health organizations
to generate ideas, review plans, and share
recommendations with town officials.
Edmonston's mayor dedicates the redesigned Decatur
Street in 2010. Photo courtesy of Faith Cole.
"There is a misconception that smaller,
working-class communities are not
able to do great things"says Mayor
Ortiz. "However, we can implement
innovations quickly and set an
example for bigger cities"
Decatur Street's bike lanes are constructed with permeable
materials that allow water to filter through instead of
collecting on top. Photo courtesy of Faith Cole.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
PROMOTE PUBLIC HEALTH AND A CLEAN AND SAFE ENVIRONMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Old Decatur Street "Gray Street"
l, Tiee Canfriiv • Nonnative and LOW growth TIMS reduce H*tJH*i and eontrrtoie 10 "urban heat island" eilifd
2, Sucei lighting - Sottam six) mercury y«ior sneet iifjnis BIG inefficient. Dowjrei) by tbtly coal enemy which
emiu c*6of> into the «mosphe»e Lighii are also located atwve iNe (sees, which rtwijs «i less light reaching
: lit i ;sf a-/, al k
3. Walkatat¥.'fli:ce3Sflttrii» • Broken and narrow stfewalks limil access far dtsatibed persons and strollers, and
may violate Ihe Americans wilh OiiabWlns Act. • ADA-
4. 8ike> ACCESS • Lock of dedicated bites lanes reduce salcEy, discourage h ke USB and promote cars ;n the only
way to gm around on wheel* The wide stretil promotes speeding, rnikmg n even less sale far b&«s ;wd
5. Slorrnwater • The storm waiw drains debus and fiolluiaiui direcUy ima local rivets through the und«i|'0uni]
sewet syslem. This poisons fish and othai wildlife, promotes Blness among people, and contribute* to the
de-alti of the Chesapeake Bay.
Decatur Street in 2009 before it was redesigned.
Image courtesy of City ofEdmonston.
The resulting Green Street Project extends along
seven blocks of Decatur Street. Its native tree
cover cools and beautifies the street. The wind-
powered street lights use high-efficiency LED
bulbs that save energy, while the pedestrian and
bicycle paths give residents safe, convenient
transportation options and provide space for
neighborhood children to play.The bike paths are
constructed with porous bricks and cement that
allow water to filter through instead of collecting
on top. The most critical part of the Green Street
Project is the water filtration system, which
directs stormwater from storm drains and the
sewer system to bio-retention rain gardens along
the street. Combined, these features capture an
estimated 90 percent of the street's stormwater,
which reduces pollution locally and in the
Chesapeake Bay.
Thanks to extensive citizen support and effective
partnerships, the two-year implementation phase
went smoothly. The town paid for 90 percent
of the $1.3 million project with federal funding
from the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act. Partnerships with landscape architects,
horticulturists, engineers, and other local
Future Decatur Street • "Green Street"
- Native large canopy trees increase habit a I. clean air, and cool street, udewafks and home!:.
2. Street Liahtuw Light emitting diode a.E.D.) streelliglit fixtures are extremely efficient, and wiD be powered by
clean wind energy. The lights will be closer to Hie slreut tn maintain eMEdtvuness to public safely
3. WjtlkjibitilY i Apcessafaihly ADA compliarrt <3fT widel sidHwalks promote wcllrwss, walking and community.
4. Sik$ AccftSj Cteaily mnrhftd bake lantu piomoie safuiy. weiinats, MI sltemsiivc 10 cats, and ollci cttmttctivity
to biitt Hfcis and tiansn.
5. Slofmwfllef - 'Bior«tention' gardftoi and trech&Kes are the rlesliiiauon lor siormwate" rfiitead of tlie sewer
system. The water is then naturally filtered oF fjallUtainls and debris, helping restore oui rivers and ihe Bay.
G. Trie "bump-nut" design produces a "wiggle" in tfte- street, slowing Uaflk Far bike and pedestrian safety.
This rendering shows the features that were added to
Decatur Street, including wide sidewalks, bike lanes, rain
gardens, and curb bump-outs that narrow the street and
calm traffic. Image courtesy of City of Edmonston.
experts helped to reduce the costs of the project's
design and development. Local companies, 70
percent of which were owned by minorities,
performed all of the construction work. The
project led to 50 to 60 construction jobs in the
community.
"There is a misconception that smaller, working-
class communities are not able to do great things,"
says Mayor Ortiz."However, we can implement
innovations quickly and set an example for bigger
cities." Edmonston's Green Street Project shows
how a small project covering less than a mile can
make a big difference in a community and benefit
an entire region. Broader action is needed to stop
the flooding in Edmonston, but because of their
success, a neighboring town is already taking on
its own green street project.97
97 For references, see page 76.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
PROMOTE PUBLIC HEALTH AND A CLEAN AND SAFE ENVIRONMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Strengthen Existing Communities
Many established communities—city
downtowns, older suburban neighborhoods,
and rural villages—are rich in culture, heritage,
and social capital but lacking in economic
opportunities for residents. Investing in existing
communities rather than in new developments
on the outer fringes of metropolitan areas can
improve quality of life for low-income and
overburdened populations by bringing the
new jobs, services, and amenities they need.
Revitalizing long-standing communities can
also help address the health hazards from
contaminated properties, abandoned buildings,
and poorly designed streets. In addition, this
approach can increase the tax base to support
other local needs. Just as important, investing
in existing communities allows residents to
strengthen what they love about where they
live. Bringing new resources into existing
neighborhoods can help preserve and build on
the assets that make them distinctive.
This section introduces three broad strategies
governments and community organizations
can use to strengthen and revitalize existing
communities. A"fix-it-first"approach to
transportation, water, and other infrastructure
prioritizes the repair and maintenance of
Old North, a historic St. Louis, Missouri neighborhood, has
been transformed over the last several years through a
comprehensive, locally driven redevelopment strategy that has
turned a largely abandoned area into a flourishing community.
Photo courtesy of Sean Thomas, Old North St. Louis
Restoration Group.
existing assets over new construction on
undeveloped land. Redeveloping vacant and
abandoned properties can convert liabilities
into needed amenities. Rethinking land use
and transportation along blighted commercial
corridors can help provide new opportunities for
neighborhood businesses and expand access for
low-income residents.
Providing housing and transportation options
and improving access to opportunities and
daily necessities are also important parts of
strengthening existing communities. Since each
of these priorities is supported by many specific
strategies of their own, they are addressed
separately in later sections.
The redevelopment of downtown Silver Spring, Maryland
turned a struggling inner suburban commercial district into
a vibrant destination with shopping, offices, apartments,
and hotel space. Photo courtesy of EPA.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHEN EXISTING COMMUNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Fix Existing Infrastructure First
"Fix-it-first"strategies prioritize the repair
and maintenance of existing infrastructure
over the construction of new infrastructure in
undeveloped places. These strategies are often
applied to transportation infrastructure such as
roads, bridges, and rail lines; and water facilities
such as sewers, pipes, and treatment plants.They
can also be applied to housing, schools, and
other buildings.
Investing in existing infrastructure prolongs its
usable life, minimizes the need for costly repairs,
and reduces failures that can jeopardize safety.
Public investment in infrastructure maintenance
signals a commitment to a neighborhood that
can make the private sector more confident
about investing there. In addition, a fix-it-first
approach creates jobs. Prioritizing roadway repair
and maintenance98 and mixed-use, compact,
infill development projects within towns and
cities" can create more jobs per dollar spent than
building new infrastructure.
State and local governments can adopt fix-it-
first policies that direct resources to support
maintenance and upgrades of existing
infrastructure and facilities.The Michigan Land
Use Leadership Council worked with stakeholder
groups including the Detroit National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People to
recommend that the state adopt minimum
standards for spending on road repair, prioritize
the reuse of historic buildings and other existing
structures when locating public facilities, and
direct state and federal financial assistance to
commercial centers with infrastructure already in
place and relatively dense populations. Following
those recommendations, Michigan's Cool Cities
pilot program allocated priority funding to
localities with plans to revitalize established areas
and use previously built infrastructure.100
98 Smart Growth America. Recent Lessons from the Stimulus:
Transportation Funding and Job Creation. 2011. www.
smartgrowthamerica.org/2011/02/04/new-report-reveals-smart-
transportation-spending-creates-Jobs-grows-the-economy.
99 Good Jobs First. The Jobs are Back in Town: Urban Smart Growth
and Construction Employment. 2003.www.goodjobsfirst.org/sites/
default/files/docs/pdf/backintown.pdf.
100 Michigan Land Use Leadership Council. Michigan's Land, Michigan's
Future. 2003. www.peopleandland.org/Learn More Documents/
MLULC-FINAL REPORT 0803.pdf.
Reuse Vacant and Abandoned
Properties
Vacant and abandoned properties can jeopardize
residents'safety and encourage blight and
disinvestment by attracting crime and reducing
surrounding property values. Converting them
into community amenities such as housing,
commercial space, or gardens can increase
residents'access to needed services and
opportunities and spur additional investment in
the neighborhood.
Many municipalities and community
organizations begin the redevelopment process
by taking an inventory of all vacant properties in
the city or neighborhood and prioritizing them for
reuse. Indianapolis'Abandoned Housing Initiative
assessed almost 8,000 vacant properties and, with
the help of a HUD Neighborhood Stabilization
Grant, directed resources to neglected properties
with redevelopment potential.101
An area-wide approach that considers vacant
properties in the context of comprehensive
neighborhood plans can help identify uses that
support the broader vision of the community.
Some municipalities, such as Genesee County,
Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio, have created
land banks to acquire tax-delinquent properties,
hold them until the market can support
redevelopment, then rehabilitate them in ways
that address local needs and strengthen the
neighborhood.102-103 When a property is targeted
for revitalization, municipal programs, such as
Cleveland's Repair-A-Home Program, can provide
low-interest loans and technical assistance.104
101 The City of Indianapolis and Marion County. Mayor's Abandoned
Housing Initiative Press Releases. 2008. www.indy.gov/eGov/City/
DMD/Abandoned/Pages/press.aspx.
102 Genesee County Land Bank. Genesee County Land Bank.
www.thelandbank.org. Accessed 2011.
103 City of Cleveland. Housing and Home Improvement
Building/Maintaining, portal.cleveland-oh.gov/portal/
page/portal/CityofCleveland/Home/Community/
HousingandHomelmprovement/BuildingMaintaining.
Accessed 2011.
104 City of Cleveland. Division of Neighborhood Services, portal.
cleveland-oh.gov/portal/page/portal/CityofCleveland/Home/
Community/HousingandHomelmprovement/BuildingMaintaining.
Accessed 2011.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHEN EXISTING COMMUNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Some communities are exploring interim uses
of vacant properties to remove blight and safety
hazards and allow residents to use the space
until there is a market for new residential or
commercial development. For example, some
municipalities encourage resident groups to
create community gardens or parks. Others
are simply"greening"or landscaping vacant
lots. Over the past 10 years, the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society has worked with the city
of Philadelphia and community organizations
to green nine million square feet of vacant land
by adding fences, cleaning up, mowing, and
planting trees and shrubs. Work crews are made
up of neighborhood residents who receive
training in landscaping so they can develop
marketable skills.105
Whether the community is targeting green
space, gardens, building renovations, or new
construction, planners can remove barriers to
redevelopment that exist in zoning and building
codes, provide incentives for infill development
such as streamlined project approval and reduced
impact fees, and make sure that proposed uses
are permitted. Additionally, local governments
can use code enforcement to encourage
Community members clean up and build a fence on
a vacant lot in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The workers
received landscaping training through the Pennsylvania
Horticultural Society's Community LandCare program.
Photo courtesy of Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.
105 Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Community LandCare. www.
pennsylvaniahorticulturalsociety.org/phlgreen/vacant-CLC.html.
Accessed 2011.
demolition and redevelopment of unsafe and
unsightly buildings that are beyond repair.
Redevelop Commercial Corridors
Around the country, many commercial corridors
are aging and blighted by run-down strip malls,
abandoned gas stations, and other vacant
properties. Despite this disinvestment, these
corridors serve as important transportation
routes and shopping destinations and are well-
positioned for redevelopment as safe, convenient,
and vibrant thoroughfares. Revitalizing
commercial corridors can enhance the customer
base of existing businesses, create new jobs and
business opportunities for residents, and improve
the safety and convenience of economical
transportation options such as walking, bicycling,
and public transit.
Effective corridor redevelopment calls for
restructuring the land use pattern along the
corridor and redesigning the street. To create
a more attractive, pedestrian-friendly land use
pattern, local governments can use zoning
tools such as mixed-use ordinances that put
homes, shops, and workplaces close together
and reduced setback requirements that bring
buildings closer to the street. Municipalities
can make streets more welcoming and safer for
pedestrians and bicyclists with narrower traffic
lanes that slow traffic, space for bike lanes and
on-street parking, expanded sidewalks with
street furniture and landscaping, and improved
street crossings.The green streets and complete
streets strategies described previously can also
help make streets safer and more inviting for all
users. If public transit exists along the corridor,
the local transit agency can consider upgrading
service in areas targeted for redevelopment. Any
transit improvements should include safe access
for pedestrians.
Public investment along targeted commercial
corridors is critical for revitalization. Municipal
street and sidewalk improvements, lighting,
trees and greenery, and other basic amenities
set the stage for redevelopment and can
attract additional public, private, and nonprofit
investment. Municipalities can also offer
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHEN EXISTING COMMUNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Public investment along targeted
commercial corridors is critical for
revitalization. Municipal street and
sidewalk improvements, lighting,
trees and greenery, and other
basic amenities set the stage for
redevelopment and can attract
additional public, private, and
nonprofit investment.
incentives for redevelopment through relatively
low-cost programs such as grants to local
businesses for facade improvements that make
the corridor more attractive. Because commercial
corridors are comprised of many individually
owned parcels, local governments can promote
revitalization by building relationships with
business owners, chambers of commerce, and
other business associations and communicating
the benefits of corridor improvements to them.
One example of corridor revitalization on a
large scale is the Grand Boulevard Initiative.This
coalition of 19 cities, counties, regional agencies,
businesses, labor groups, and developers is
working to improve California's El Camino
Real, a 600-mile historic highway. Partners are
Specially designed bike racks strengthen the character
of Minneapolis'American Indian Cultural Corridor and
encourage residents and visitors to get around by bicycle by
giving them safe places to lock their bikes.
Photo courtesy of the Native American Community
Development Institute.
The American Indian Cultural Corridor builds on the unique
history of American Indian people in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
to create a vibrant destination with culturally inspired public
spaces and art, educational and employment opportunities
for local residents, and Indian-owned businesses such as the
All My Relations fine arts gallery. Photo courtesy of'the Native
American Community Development Institute.
collaborating to implement zoning that targets
housing and job growth around transit stations
and key intersections, encourage mixed-use
development with a range of housing and
business opportunities, create a pedestrian-
friendly environment with continuous sidewalks
and good lighting, reserve traffic lanes for
buses, and provide incentives to attract private
development and investment along the
corridor.106
Viewing commercial corridors in the context
of their broader neighborhoods can help
ensure that new businesses have the customer
base necessary for lasting revitalization. The
Pennsylvania Department of Community and
Economic Development's Elm Street Program
funded joint planning, technical assistance, and
physical improvements for commercial corridors
and adjoining residential neighborhoods dealing
with high rates of crime, poverty, unemployment,
and blight. This approach helped increase local
businesses' responsiveness to neighbors' needs
and, in turn, profitability.107
106 Grand Boulevard Initiative. Grand Boulevard Initiative.
www.grandboulevard.net. Accessed 2011.
107 Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic
Development. Elm Street Program, www.newpa.org. Accessed
2012. The program has been consolidated into the Keystone
Communities Program.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHEN EXISTING COMMUNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Case Study:
Restoring a Cultural Business Corridor
New Orleans, Louisiana
After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005,
residents of New Orleans'largest Vietnamese-
American community came together to rebuild
their lives and neighborhoods with the help
of the Mary Queen of Vietnam Community
Development Corporation (MQVN CDC). Among
their many accomplishments, the residents and
MQVN CDC revitalized a main business corridor
that preserved local jobs and restored the
community's distinctive culture.
Located in the Ninth Ward, the Village de L'Est
(known locally as Versailles) had 7,000 residents
before Katrina.The community had its roots in
the Vietnamese refugee resettlement that began
in the 1970s. As in Vietnam, the church is the
center of the community's religious and social
life. During Katrina, the Mary Queen of Vietnam
Church organized evacuations, connected
residents who were displaced around the country,
and helped bring people home. By spring 2007,
over 90 percent of the Vietnamese-American
residents had returned to Versailles.
The MQVN CDC, established in 2006, helped the
community create a vision for rebuilding Versailles
through public meetings, focus groups, surveys,
interviews, and design charrettes. Responding to
the needs identified through this input, MQVN
CDC began planning a cultural district called
Viet Village. The community wanted to build a
business corridor and create a strong sense of
place based on Vietnamese culture. "Our overall
goal after Hurricane Katrina was to rebuild and
get the businesses to come back,"says Tuan
Nguyen, deputy director of MQVN CDC.
The resulting business development plan
included four strategies for revitalizing the
community's economic corridor and creating
the cultural district. The Viet Village Collective
Marketing Campaign created an area directory,
map, resource guide, signage, and banners to
attract customers.The Facade Improvement
Program constructed business plazas and new
facades for old buildings. The Technical Assistance
Program delivered workshops on marketing and
The Mary Queen ofVietnam Community Development
Corporation's Facade Improvement Program supported the
construction of business plazas and new facades for local
establishments. Photo courtesy of Mary Queen of Vietnam
Community Development Corporation.
accounting to small business owners. The Viet
Village Streetscape Project created a culturally
inspired Streetscape design and obtained
$400,000 from the city of New Orleans for
implementation. Altogether, the MQVN CDC has
helped business owners obtain over $2 million in
capital to rebuild or expand their businesses.
"It was a beautiful plan where the city took
every opinion and suggestion that community
members made into consideration,"says Mr.
Nguyen. "Community members even chose what
type of trees will be planted. This is the first time
that the city had ever done a project like this in
Village de L'Est."
MQVN CDC partnered with many organizations,
including the city government, the University
of New Orleans, the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, and ASI Federal Credit Union.
Louisiana Economic Development, the Louisiana
Disaster Recovery Foundation, and the city of New
Orleans provided funding.
As a result of these partnerships, the business
corridor attracted further investment, and the
benefits are felt throughout Versailles. "Our food
and what we offer out here is unique in the Gulf
Coast,"says Mr. Nguyen. "We want to open up the
Viet Village and take it to a whole new level in
order to serve not only Vietnamese-Americans,
but all of New Orleans."108
108 For references, see page 76.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
STRENGTHEN EXISTING COMMUNITIES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Provide Housing Choices
Affordable, healthy, high-quality housing is
one of the basic elements of a sustainable
community. It is important to provide decent
homes in safe neighborhoods, convenient to
jobs, good schools, and daily necessities for
people of all income levels, family sizes, and
stages of life. Having a variety of housing price
points and types, including rental apartments,
townhouses, and large and small single-family
homes, can ensure that everyone—from a young
person living on her own for the first time, to a
working family, to a retired couple—can find
an affordable place to live. Achieving this range
of choices might require affordable housing
preservation or new construction, two broad
strategies that are described in this section,
or a combination of both. Developers, local
governments, and community development
corporations are key partners in these strategies.
Planning ahead to provide housing choices
before property values rise is central to
minimizing displacement. Setting land aside early
for affordable housing, building new homes at a
range of price points, and making sure existing
and new affordable homes remain affordable
over time can enable low-income residents to
stay in their neighborhoods if property values
rise. Green building techniques can also reduce
housing costs, as described earlier in this chapter.
Where homes are located and how they are
connected to the rest of the community
and region have important implications for
affordability. A unit built in an outlying area
far from employment centers might be called
affordable, but it increases transportation
costs for residents and isolates them socially,
economically, and geographically.Truly
affordable housing is convenient to job
opportunities and other amenities and services,
and provides access to public transit and safe
options for walking and bicycling. Homes should
also be separated or buffered from land uses that
could impact residents'health.
Municipalities also need to consider the
vulnerability of affordable homes to natural
Housing choice is critical to reducing
health, economic, and quality of life
disparities among communities and
building thriving regions.
With its mixture of new rental and for-sale housing at
all income levels, Seattle's NewHolly neighborhood is
transitioning from an isolated enclave of poverty to a
vibrant, successful community.
Photo courtesy of Seattle Housing Authority.
hazards such as flooding or wildfires, to what
extent those hazards might worsen with climate
change, and how they will respond if a natural
disaster damages or destroys the homes.
These considerations might change whether
a community decides to renovate existing
buildings or build new homes in a safer, but still
well-connected, location.
Housing choice is critical to reducing health,
economic, and quality of life disparities among
communities and building thriving regions. When
people of all income levels can afford to live near
their jobs, their commutes are shorter, resulting
in lower transportation costs, cleaner air, and
higher quality of life. Providing homes that
teachers, retail workers, public safety personnel,
and other moderate- and low-income earners can
afford ensures that a strong workforce is available
to fill essential jobs. Offering a range of housing
price points and sizes allows young people to
find homes in their hometowns and older people
to stay in their communities as they age. Just as
important, inclusive communities with residents
of all ages, races, incomes, and ethnicities are
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richer places for people to live and raise their
families.
Preserve Affordable Housing
The National Housing Trust estimates that for
every affordable apartment built, two are lost to
deterioration, abandonment, or conversion to
more expensive housing.109 Preserving existing
affordable housing is essential to stabilizing
populations in low-income and overburdened
communities. Existing affordable housing is
often located near jobs, public transportation,
and other services and amenities. Retaining
affordable housing in areas that are revitalizing
helps ensure that low-income families have
access to new opportunities and quality of
life benefits. Using this approach in struggling
neighborhoods can catalyze investment and
development. In addition, preserving and
rehabilitating affordable housing is much less
costly than building new affordable units.
Communities have used an array of tools to
preserve affordable housing. For example, deed
restrictions allow an individual to buy a home
for less than market value and sell it later below
market value to keep it affordable for future
buyers. Community land trusts administer deed
restrictions and purchase and retain land for new
affordable housing. Because land trusts typically
maintain possession of the land while the buyer
purchases the building, the home price remains
stable without the inflationary pressure from
rising land values.
Housing trust funds are another tool city,
county, and state governments use to provide
a consistent source of funding for affordable
housing initiatives, including repairs, renovations,
and new construction. These trusts are created by
state legislation and municipal ordinances. More
than 625 city and county housing trusts operate
in 40 states, generating more than $1 billion a
year for affordable housing.110 The revenue for
trust funds can come from a variety of sources,
109 National Housing Trust. Affordable Housing Preservation FAQs.
www.nhtinc.org/preservation faq.php. Accessed 2011.
110 Center for Community Change. Housing Trust Fund, www.
communitychange.org/page/housing-trust-fund. Accessed 2011.
In Denver, Colorado's historic and diverse La Alma/
Lincoln Park neighborhood—now known as the Mariposa
District—existing affordable housing is being preserved
while new middle-income and market-rate homes are being
added, for a total of about 800 housing units where only
270 existed before.This affordable senior housing complex
features a mural by a local artist. Photo courtesy of EPA.
including real estate taxes and fees, fees paid by
developers, tax increment funds, and interest
from government funds.
Other housing preservation tools include
rehabilitation assistance and code enforcement.
Keeping roofs, plumbing, and electrical systems
in good repair can help homeowners, especially
elderly residents, remain in their homes.
Well-maintained housing is also at less risk of
being purchased by speculators at bargain
prices. Municipalities and community-based
organizations can offer low-income property
owners grants for rehabilitation, hands-on
assistance, and education to help them comply
with codes.
Federal agencies, particularly HUD, provide
considerable support for affordable housing.
The federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit,
described in the next section on creating new
affordable housing, allows an owner or developer
to claim a federal tax credit equal to a percentage
of the cost incurred to rehabilitate low-income
rental units. HUD provides grants, loans, and
mortgage insurance for affordable housing
rehabilitation as well as new construction. In rural
areas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural
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Development programs provide loans, grants,
and loan guarantees for affordable housing
improvements and construction.111
Create New Affordable Housing
Building new affordable housing is another
way to expand housing choices for low- and
moderate-income households, and is important
not only in neighborhoods with sizeable low-
income populations, but also in more affluent
communities currently lacking housing
opportunities for low-income earners, young
people, and seniors. Three important tools
to facilitate affordable housing development
are inclusionary zoning, updated land use
regulations, and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.
Municipalities can use inclusionary zoning
to require that a certain percentage of new
housing be affordable to low- or moderate-
income households. In exchange, they can offer
developers special allowances such as fast-track
permitting or permission to build more units
on a site than zoning would typically allow.
Montgomery County, Maryland adopted one
of the first inclusionary zoning programs in the
country in 1974. Its Moderately Priced Housing
law requires that 12.5 to 15 percent of the units
in large new developments be moderately priced
and that 40 percent of those units be offered
to the county and nonprofit housing agencies
for low- and moderate-income families.112
The program has produced more than 10,000
affordable units.113 Washington, D.C.'s inclusionary
zoning program mandates affordable set-asides
of 8 to 10 percent of new residential construction,
or 50 to 75 percent of the additional units the
developer is allowed to build in exchange
for creating affordable housing, whichever is
greater.114
111 U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. Housing
and Community Assistance. www.rurdev.usda.gov/LP Subject
HousingAndCommunityAssistance.html. Accessed 2012.
112 Montgomery County Department of Housing and Community
Affairs. Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit Program, www.
montgomerycountymd.gov/dhctmpl.asp?url=/content/dhca/
housing/housing p/mpdu/Summary new.asp. Accessed 2011.
113 Smart Growth America. Social Equity, www.smartgrowthamerica.
org/socialequity.html. Accessed 2011.
114 District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community
Development. Inclusionary Zoning Affordable Housing Program.
The city of Santa Cruz, California's Accessory Dwelling Unit
Development Program makes it easier for homeowners to
create accessory units by converting garages or building
separate structures.These accessory units create more
affordable housing options, allow homeowners to earn
extra money by renting them out, and can provide a place
where young adults or elderly parents can live near their
families yet still have privacy and independence.
Photo courtesy of City of Santa Cruz Department of Housing
and Community Development.
Local governments can update other land use
regulations to encourage the construction of
affordable housing. Many codes and ordinances
prevent or inhibit developers from building
lower-cost housing. Regulations prohibiting
multifamily and accessory units115 and requiring
minimums for lot sizes, setbacks from the road,
building square footage, and parking can drive
up the cost of land acquisition and housing
production. In contrast, reducing the land area
required for construction, reducing or eliminating
setback requirements, and making parking
requirements more flexible significantly lower
costs for developers and consumers. Reduced
square footage requirements and accessory units
provide options for lower-income and smaller
households. Accessory units—particularly suited
to suburban and rural contexts—can also house
aging family members or bring in rental income
dhcd.dc.gov/service/inclusionary-zoning-affordable-housing-
program. Accessed 2011.
115 Accessory units—also referred to as accessory apartments, second
units, or granny flats—are additional living quarters on single-
family lots that are independent of the primary dwelling unit. For
more information, see U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, "Accessory Dwelling Units: Case Study "at www.
huduser.org/portal/publications/adu.pdf.
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for homeowners. In small town settings, mixed-
use zoning ordinances that allow apartments
above shops can increase affordable options.
Communities can use the Low-Income Housing
Tax Credit to finance new affordable rental
housing and to support affordable housing
rehabilitation and preservation. Tax credits go to
developers of qualified projects, who can then
sell these credits to investors to raise capital for
projects, reducing the money that the developer
would otherwise have to borrow. With less debt,
the developer can offer lower rents.116
Affordable housing developers face several
challenges despite the many tools at their
disposal. One of the biggest challenges is finding
available and affordable land, particularly
in neighborhoods where land values are
appreciating quickly. Before investments in a
neighborhood drive land prices up, it is important
for community and government stakeholders
to identify locations for affordable housing and
acquire property. Other challenges include
gaining political support among local officials,
which can be overcome with engagement by
community members and affordable housing
advocates. It can also be difficult to ensure that
affordable housing remains affordable over time.
This can be accomplished using deed restrictions
and other affordable housing preservation
strategies discussed above.
Community development corporations are
important leaders in the creation of new
affordable housing.The Umpqua Community
Development Corporation worked with the
state of Oregon, the city of Roseburg, and the
Local Initiatives Support Corporation to convert
a former hotel in downtown Roseburg into a
mixed-use development with retail on the ground
floor and 37 housing units upstairs. With $3.2
million generated from Low-Income Housing Tax
Credits, $1 million from historic rehabilitation tax
credits, and other funding, Umpqua ensured that
33 of those units are affordable to very low- and
Silver Gardens Apartments is a 66-unit affordable housing
development located on a reclaimed brownfield site across
the street the main transit hub in downtown
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Photos courtesy of PatrickCoulie.
moderate-income residents. In addition, several
of the units provide housing for women from the
Safe Haven Maternity Home.117
116 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. How
Do Housing Tax Credits Work? www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/
affordablehousing/training/web/lihtc/basics/work.cfm.
Accessed 2011.
117 Kimura, Donna."Hotel project provides housing while rescuing
city's past'.'Affordable Housing Finance. August 2005. www.
housingflnance.com/ahf/articles/2005/august/032 AHF 12-3.htm.
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Case Study:
Bringing Transit Service and Affordable
Housing to a Community in Need
Boston, Massachusetts
Boston's Fairmount Line, a commuter rail, runs
through underserved and densely populated
communities in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Hyde
Park. For decades, many residents living along
the line could see the train from their windows,
but it did not stop in their neighborhoods and
the nearest stations were well beyond walking
distance.
"For residents of neighborhoods such as Four
Corners in Dorchester, who currently bear the
burden of hosting a diesel rail line without
the benefit of service, the Fairmount Line is a
textbook example of environmental injustice,"
says Noah Berger, the program manager at the
Federal Transit Administration. Most residents of
the communities bordering the Fairmount Line
are African-American or Latino, and about half
of the households earn less than $25,000 per
year. Because 30 percent of them do not own a
car, residents use public transit four times more
than the regional average.The communities also
have many vacant properties and brownfields,
a problem made worse by a rise in foreclosures
since the mid-2000s. In 2009, nearly 70 percent
of Boston's foreclosures were in Dorchester and
Mattapan.
In response to these challenges, four community
development corporations (CDCs) representing
Dorchester Bay, Cod man Square, Southwest
Boston, and Mattapan came together to form the
Fairmount/lndigo Line Collaborative. They also
joined the Greater Four Corners Action Coalition's
transit equity campaign to advocate for new
service and transit-oriented development along
the nine-mile rail corridor. The commonwealth
of Massachusetts, the city of Boston, and federal
agencies have committed nearly $200 million to
construct four new stations as well as affordable
housing, office buildings, and a greenway to
better serve the residents and reinvigorate their
neighborhoods.
"We are working with residents to plan
and create new urban villages along
the line with mixed-use developments
that include affordable housing and
commercial uses" says Gail Latimore,
executive director of the Cod man
Square Neighborhood Development
Corporation. "The Fairmount work is
a catalyst for economic revitalization
of our communities. While we have
a lot more work to do, we are well
on our way to transforming our
neighborhoods and are serving as
a national model for responsive
community development."
The Fairmount/lndigo Line Collaborative
partnered with Boston's Department of
Neighborhood Development to develop a vision
of how transit could improve access and mobility
and catalyze economic and social renewal. The
coalition wanted the Fairmount train service
to operate as part of the city's subway network
under the name the "Indigo Line."They engaged
a broad coalition of residents, community
organizations, academic institutions, and
foundations. Collaborative representatives found
common ground among diverse neighborhood
interests on shared goals.
The collaborative was especially concerned that
speculative property transactions and rising land
values around the new stations would drive up
the cost of living for current residents and push
them out of the neighborhood. As a result, the
plans for transit-oriented development focused
on creating and preserving affordable housing.
The CDCs are purchasing and rehabilitating
foreclosed homes and acquiring, cleaning up, and
reusing brownfield sites and other vacant and
abandoned properties for housing development.
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The area around Uphams Corner, a station on the Fairmount
Line in Dorchester, before the station renovation (above),
and a rendering showing the planned redevelopment
around the station (below). Photo and rendering courtesy of
Fairmount Collaborative.
To further support opportunities for affordable
housing and equitable development, the
Partnership for Sustainable Communities
provided technical assistance to the collaborative.
The Partnership is a joint effort of HUD, the U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT), and EPA to
coordinate federal housing, transportation, water,
and other infrastructure investments to make
neighborhoods more prosperous, allow people
to live closer to jobs, save households time and
money, and reduce pollution.The Partnership
helped create a comprehensive inventory of
more than 150 sites near the rail line and a site
prioritization tool to identify opportunities to
develop housing, retail, and green space. The
Partnership also supported the refinement
of a design concept for a brownfield located
close to the recently refurbished Morton Street
station that will include affordable housing and
commercial space.
The Federal Transit Administration contributed
over $135 million to support four new stations
and the renovation of two existing stations. HUD
provided over $50 million through Community
Development Block Grants; the HOME Investment
Partnerships Program; and Section 202 for public
housing, new housing, and rental subsidies.
EPA dedicated $720,000 to clean up more than
30 brownfield sites within a half-mile of the
new and renovated stations and will provide
technical assistance to a Green Jobs Incubator
on a former brownfield. Other funders include
the Massachusetts Department of Housing
and Community Development, Massachusetts
Housing Partnership, the Local Initiatives Support
Corporation, and several local and national
foundations.
The four new stations are expected to open by
2013.The Fairmount/lndigo Line Collaborative
expects to create 1,200 new affordable homes
near these stations. The collaborative also
estimates that the new stations will attract over
780,000 square feet of new retail space with the
potential to generate more than 1,300 new jobs.
Additionally, the collaborative plans to develop
a six-mile green corridor, which will include
playgrounds, orchards, parks, a pedestrian and
bicycle path, community gardens, and open
space.
"We are working with residents to plan and
create new urban villages along the line with
mixed-use developments that include affordable
housing and commercial uses,"says Gail Latimore,
executive director of the Cod man Square
Neighborhood Development Corporation.
"The Fairmount work is a catalyst for economic
revitalization of our communities. While we have
a lot more work to do, we are well on our way to
transforming our neighborhoods and are serving
as a national model for responsive community
development."118
118 For references, see page 76.
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Provide Transportation Options
For many low-income and overburdened
communities, public transit, bicycle, and
pedestrian networks are critical links to
the regional employment and educational
opportunities that can help residents improve
their lives.Transportation options such as
reliable bus and rail systems and well-connected
sidewalks and bike paths make it possible for
people to reach a job in the suburbs, their doctor's
office across town, or the grocery store around
the corner safely and conveniently, even if they do
not drive a car.
Expanding transportation choices can also save
people money. Families living near public transit
can own fewer cars—or no cars—and drive them
less, which can mean significant savings on gas
and maintenance costs. As noted in Chapter 2,
the average American family spends roughly 18
percent of household income on transportation
and very low-income households can spend 55
percent or more, while households with access to
good transit service spend only 9 percent.119
Providing transportation options can also help
create jobs. Investments in public transit, bicycle,
and pedestrian infrastructure create more jobs
per dollar spent than building new roads.120-121
In addition, when people can walk, bike, or
take public transit, physical activity becomes
part of their daily routines, which can keep
them healthier. Well-designed streets with
sidewalks, bike lanes, safe crossing points, and
good lighting reduce the risk of being hit by a
car. Providing alternatives to driving can also
decrease pollution from motor vehicles, helping
to protect air quality, reduce asthma and other
illnesses that disproportionately impact low-
income and minority communities, and mitigate
climate change.
119 Center forTransit-Oriented Development. Mixed-Income Housing
Near Transit. 2009. www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/display
asset/091030ra201 mixedhousefinal.
120 Smart Growth America. Recent Lessons from the Stimulus:
Transportation Funding and Job Creation. 2011. www.
smartgrowthamerica.org/2011/02/04/new-report-reveals-smart-
transportation-spending-creates-Jobs-grows-the-economy.
121 Garrett-Peltier, Heidi. Pedestrian and Bicycle Infrastructure: A National
Study of Employment Impacts. Political Economy Research Institute,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst. 2011.
Transportation options such as
reliable bus and rail systems and well-
connected sidewalks and bike paths
make it possible for people to reach
a job in the suburbs, their doctor's
office across town, or the grocery
store around the corner safely and
conveniently, even if they do not
drive a car.
Public transit, bicycle, and pedestrian networks can
connect low-income residents to jobs and educational
opportunities, save money on transportation, and help to
integrate physical activity into peoples'daily routines.
Photo courtesy of EPA.
This section presents three broad approaches
that expand the transportation choices available
to low-income and overburdened communities:
providing access to public transit; designing safe
streets for all users; and implementing equitable,
transit-oriented development. Different strategies
will be appropriate depending on the scale of
the community. For instance, a rural community
might not have enough population to support
a fixed-route bus system, but residents could
benefit from demand-responsive public transit
and safely designed streets with sidewalks.
Coordinating the implementation of these
transportation strategies with neighborhood
planning can result in more accessible amenities
and services and more viable transportation
options. When homes, offices, stores, and civic
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buildings are located near public transit and close
to each other, it is convenient to walk, bicycle,
and take the bus or train. Planners can ensure
that land use policies and regulations support
compact, mixed-use development, including
affordable housing, near transit and walking
and bicycling routes. It might also be necessary
to address safety and crime concerns before
residents feel comfortable walking, bicycling, or
using public transportation. Along with police
enforcement, clustering destinations close to
transit stops and increasing the number of eyes
on the street can improve neighborhood safety.
Provide Access to Public
Transportation
Public transportation is especially critical for
low-income people, older adults, youth, and
individuals with disabilities who might not have
other ways of getting around. Transportation
planners can engage these groups to ensure that
transit routes and service hours meet their needs.
Many public transportation trips are made up
of multiple legs on different forms of transit
such as regional rail and local bus. Linking
public transportation options at transportation
hubs and coordinating schedules between
transit providers can increase accessibility and
The Tempe, Arizona Transportation Center combines the
downtown light-rail stop, the main city bus station, and the
state's first "bike station," which offers secure on-site
storage and repairs, into one facility.
Photo courtesy of City of Tempe and Architekton + Otak.
convenience. In rural communities, demand-
responsive transit service, which operates on
flexible routes and schedules according to
passenger needs, can be a successful approach.
In urban, suburban, and rural places, coordinating
traditional public transit and transportation
provided by social service agencies can further
expand transportation options for customers.
Municipalities can make access to public
transportation easier and safer through
thoughtful design of transit stops and
surrounding streets. Waiting areas should be
safe, well lit, and clearly marked. They should be
easy and safe for patrons to reach on foot and by
bicycle via sidewalks, bike paths, and crosswalks.
Transit agencies can educate the public about
their transportation options by translating
schedules and brochures into local languages
and placing these guides in schools, churches,
businesses, and other community destinations.
The La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians in southern
California is working with the San Diego
Association of Governments and the nonprofit
Walk San Diego to evaluate ways of increasing
access to bus stops while encouraging physical
activity. Potential strategies include marking stops
more clearly, calming traffic, and protecting the
trails and roadside paths that lead to the stops
from fast-moving vehicles using logs, rocks,
and other natural barriers obtained from the
surrounding landscape.122
Planners can consider the equity and health
outcomes of transit investments at the beginning
of the decision-making process using tools such
as environmental and social impact analyses.
They can also create accountability measures or
indicators to ensure that transportation projects
meet equity and health objectives. A common
approach is to calculate transportation benefits
by income group. Specific metrics can include
average travel time for various types of trips, the
number of jobs that are accessible within a given
travel time, and average distance to the nearest
transit stop, all analyzed for a range of income
122 WalkSan Diego. Active Transportation Assessment for the La Jolla
Band of Luiseno Indians. 2012.
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groups.123 These metrics can be monitored over
time to ensure that transit investments continue
to serve transit-dependent populations.
Much of the funding for public transportation
is distributed directly to transit agencies, which
then decide how to spend it. However, transit
agency boards often include one representative
for each jurisdiction served—usually multiple
suburban towns and one city—instead of basing
representation on population. This can result
in more investment in outlying areas and less
funding for urban cores where transit-dependent
groups often live and where population densities
generally better support the provision of transit
service.
To advocate for the equitable distribution of
funding, residents can participate in riders'
councils and other advisory groups that make
recommendations to transit agencies and engage
the public. In 2010, the city of Seattle created
a citizen transportation advisory committee
to advise the mayor and city council on
transportation priorities. The committee includes
representatives from diverse communities as well
as equity and social justice advocates.124 Nonprofit
organizations can also conduct community
assessments to uncover information about
specific transportation needs that can inform
agency decisions, as described previously.
123 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Guide to Sustainable
Transportation Performance Measures. 2011. www.epa.gov/
smartgrowth/transpo performance.htm.
124 Seattle Department of Transportation. Citizens Transportation
Advisory Committee III. www.seattle.gov/transportation/ctac.htm.
Accessed 2011.
Implement Equitable Transit-Oriented
Development
Transit-oriented development (TOD) is commonly
defined as compact, mixed-use development
within walking distance (usually half a mile) of
a transit station. Residents of transit-oriented
developments can choose to drive less because of
their convenient access to public transportation
and walkable streets. Equitable TOD offers a mix
of housing choices affordable to people with a
range of incomes. Providing affordable housing
near transit can significantly lower combined
housing and transportation costs, which can claim
55 to 60 percent of the household incomes of
working families in major metropolitan areas.125
Equitable transit-oriented development uses
many of the tools described earlier that create
and preserve affordable housing, though some
tools are particularly suited to station-area
development. Because TOD residents are more
likely to use transit, municipalities can reduce or
eliminate minimum parking standards in TODs,
which can decrease the costs of development
and therefore the costs of building affordable
housing. Greater building height or floor-area
allowances—sometimes called density bonuses—
Denver residents help plan development around the
Decatur-Federal station on the planned West Corridor
light-rail line. Photo courtesy of Denver Liability Partnership.
125 Center for Housing Policy. A Heavy Load: The Combined Housing
and Transportation Burdens of Working Families. 2006. www.cnt.org/
repository/heavy load 10 06.pdf.
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Municipalities can remove barriers
to equitable TOD and reduce costs
by waiving or reducing impact fees,
expediting permitting approvals, or
donating publicly owned land.
can accomplish similar objectives and work
well near transit stations, where communities
typically want more development. Land banking
is another viable tool. Public and nonprofit
entities can acquire land for affordable housing
near transit early when prices are lower and
hold it in a land bank until the time is right for
redevelopment. When a private developer is
interested in building, land bank authorities
transfer the land to the developer with conditions
guiding how it will be developed—for example,
as mixed-income housing.
The Denver Livability Partnership, with support
from a HUD Community Challenge Planning Grant
and a DOTTransportation Investment Generating
Economic Recovery (TIGER) II Planning Grant,
is working to ensure that people in all income
brackets benefit from the city's planned West
Corridor light rail line. In anticipation of rising land
prices, the Urban Land Conservancy, a member
of the Denver Livability Partnership, purchased
a two-acre parcel along the line on which an 80-
unit affordable housing development, a library,
and other facilities will be built.126 The partnership
also created a Housing Development Assistance
Fund, awarding $750,000 grants to the Urban
Land Conservancy and the Denver Housing
Authority for planning and predevelopment
expenses associated with developing affordable
housing near the light rail line. These grants
ensure that the costs of developing transit-
accessible housing are not passed on to renters or
buyers.127The Denver Livability Partnership's plans
will more than double the number of affordable
homes near West Corridor transit stations from
1,400 to 3,000 units, building a foundation for
Fruitvale Village provides shopping, mixed-income housing,
office space, a clinic, a library, and a senior center on a
former parking lot at the entrance to the Fruitvale Bay Area
Rapid Transit station. Photo Courtesy of The Unity Council.
inclusive communities that are linked to regional
opportunities.128
Transit-oriented development will not necessarily
be affordable without careful planning by
the municipality and involvement from the
community. Developing in transit-accessible infill
locations can be more time-consuming, difficult,
and expensive than conventional development,
so housing there is often built for the high end
of the market. Municipalities can remove barriers
to equitable TOD and reduce costs by waiving
or reducing impact fees, expediting permitting
approvals, or donating publicly owned land.
Additionally, collaboration among local planners,
metropolitan planning organizations, community
development corporations, and developers can
increase the likelihood of achieving development
that meets community goals.
126 Cohen, Elisa/'West side partnerships forming."North Denver Tribune.
June 1,2011. www.fresc.org/west-side-partnerships-forming.
127 City of Denver.Transit-Oriented Development: Denver Livability
Partnership. denvergov.org/tod/DenverLivabilityPartnership/
tabid/438465/Default.aspx. Accessed 2011.
128 City of Denver. HUD/DOT Grant Fact Sheet. 2010. www.denvergov.
org/Portals/193/documents/TOD%20SIP/HUD%20Award%20
Fact%20Sheet-City%20and%20County%20of%20Denver%20
Community%20Planning%20and%20Development.pdf.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Case Study:
Equitable Transit-Oriented Development
Chicago, Illinois
Since 1979, Bethel New Life, a faith-based
community development corporation, has
catalyzed redevelopment in the underserved West
Garfield and Austin neighborhoods of Chicago.
In 1991, when the Chicago Transit Authority
proposed closing the elevated train line that linked
residents to jobs and services, Bethel formed
a regional coalition to preserve transit service.
Bethel eventually created a transit-oriented
development plan that led to the construction
of Bethel Center, a two-story, 23,000-square-
foot community center on the leading edge of
equitable development and green construction.
Located five miles west of downtown Chicago,
the West Garfield and Austin neighborhoods are
predominantly African-American. In 1966, Martin
Luther King, Jr. made national headlines when
he moved his family into a tenement apartment
in this area to fight for civil rights in housing,
transportation, and public education as part of
the Chicago Freedom Movement. After a series of
riots in the late 1960s, the community declined
when businesses closed and banks redlined
neighborhoods, cutting off investment. The city's
decision to close the elevated Green Line train
would have been another devastating blow. "We
had to respond to the proposed closure because
the train line is the only way people can get to
worker visit their families," says Mary Nelson,
founding president of Bethel New Life.
In 1992, Bethel formed the Lake Street El Coalition
with other community groups, environmental
organizations, and a few suburban townships
and businesses. The coalition pressured local and
federal officials to preserve transit service and kept
their concerns in the public eye through press
conferences, protests, and demonstrations. In
particular, the coalition highlighted the disparities
in federal spending on highways compared
to public transit. After a series of hearings
and meetings, the Chicago Transit Authority
committed $380 million to repair the line.The
Green Line's rehabilitation was completed in 1998.
Threatened with the loss of their transit station, the West
Garfield and Austin neighborhoods worked with Bethel
New Life to keep the station open and catalyze transit-
oriented redevelopment with the Bethel Center as the
anchor. Photo courtesy of Farr Associates, photography by
Ballogg Photography.
The Bethel Center was built on a former brownfield, and
its transit-accessible, walkable location allows residents
to reach local and regional destinations conveniently and
affordably. The development incorporates green building
technology and features a green roof, photovoltaic cells, and
recycled and non-toxic building materials. Photo courtesy of
Farr Associates, photography by Alan Shortall.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
After its victory, Bethel began to consider
developing the areas around the transit
station."We realized the stop was a neighborhood
asset and that 2,500 to 3,000 people a day got
on and off at the intersection of Lake Street and
Pulaski Road,"says Ms. Nelson. Bethel collaborated
with residents, faith-based organizations,
schools, public officials, and the Garfield Park
Conservatory to create the Lake Pulaski Transit
Village Plan.The plan proposed neighborhood
revitalization strategies based on smart growth
principles, such as compact building design,
walkable neighborhoods, and access to public
transportation.The residents also wanted a
community center at the heart of the
transit village.
For more than a decade, Bethel struggled to
find funding to develop the community center
on a site adjacent to the transit stop. The site
had once hosted a gas station, whose leaking
underground storage tanks had contaminated
the groundwater and soils. Bethel was turned
down by three banks unwilling to finance loans
on land with environmental risks but was able
to get public funding from the city of Chicago's
Empowerment Zone, the state of Illinois, and the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services'
Office of Community Services for predevelopment
costs and small business development.The
organization received additional funding from
private foundations and corporations such as the
Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation and
Commonwealth Edison. Bethel also used New
Market Tax Credits, a program designed to make
investment capital available to businesses in
qualifying low-income communities. With public
and private money in place to clean the site and
construct the center, U.S. Bank came on board.
Altogether, Bethel pieced together $4.9 million for
site cleanup and the center's construction.
Completed in 2005, the Bethel Center is LEED Gold
certified and a national model for green building. It
houses six businesses, retail and financial services,
affordable childcare, and an employment center
that provides job counseling and job placement
services. With assistance from faith-based financial
services organization Thrivent Financial and a
Since its founding, Bethel New Life
has helped bring $110 million of
investment to Chicago's West Side,
placed over 7,000 people in jobs,
and developed over 1,000 units of
affordable housing.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
program that matches contributions to savings
accounts, the Community Savings Center provides
financial education and matched savings accounts
for home purchases, small business starts, and
educational advancement. Among the many
honors it has received, Bethel Center won EPA's
National Award for Smart Growth Achievement
in 2006.
The Bethel Center creates a long-term
economic anchor at the Lake Street and Pulaski
Road intersection."When doing community
development, one of the most important things
is creating a sense of an economic future," says
Ms. Nelson. "The center also made the transit
stop much more usable and convenient."
Ridership at the stop has increased 25 percent
since 2004. Bethel and other organizations have
also worked to revitalize the surrounding area.
The transit village now includes 36 affordable,
energy-efficient homes within walking distance
of the transit stop, parks, and stores. In addition
to connecting residents to jobs throughout the
region, the Bethel Center itself created about 100
new jobs.
Since its founding, Bethel New Life has helped
bring $110 million of investment to Chicago's
West Side, placed over 7,000 people in jobs,
and developed over 1,000 units of affordable
housing. Bethel has also become a national
example of the role faith-based organizations
can play inpromoting equitable community
development.129
129 For references, see page 77.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Design Safe Streets for All Users
Well-designed streets allow safe, comfortable
travel for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, and
public transit users of all ages and abilities. Also
called "complete streets,"they often provide
sidewalks, bike lanes, median islands, pedestrian
signals, bus lanes, and plenty of crossing
opportunities. Complete streets strategies can be
used with the pollution-reducing green streets
approaches described previously.
Not only do safely-designed streets make it
less dangerous and more appealing for people
to walk, bike, and use transit, they also bring
economic benefits to urban, suburban, and rural
communities. Streets that are more pleasant to
walk along bring more pedestrians to shopping
districts, and more foot traffic means more
customers.Traffic calming measures can also
increase business because drivers are better able
to see stores and more likely to stop and shop.
Many towns, cities, and states have adopted
complete streets policies directing transportation
agencies to design and build new and retrofitted
roadways to enable safe access for all users.
Because almost 20 percent of Kingston, New
York's residents live below the poverty line and
44 percent of its children are overweight or at
risk of becoming overweight, the city launched
a complete streets initiative. City staff teamed
up with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,
the school district, the local Cooperative
Extension branch, and community health and
environmental organizations to create a Complete
Streets Committee, conduct a "SWOT" (strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis
of local streets, and undertake a code audit to
identify regulations that were hampering the
city's ability to build complete streets.130 Kingston
passed a Complete Streets Policy Framework in
2010.131 The framework describes approaches
the city will use to advance complete streets and
creates an advisory council to identify projects,
select design options, and provide policy
At this Portland, Oregon, intersection, bike lanes, crosswalks,
and traffic lanes have been safely integrated with rain
gardens that filter polluted stormwater runoff.
Photo courtesy of Environmental Services,
City of Portland, Oregon.
recommendations.132 Since Kingston and other
New York communities have initiated complete
streets efforts, New York State passed a bill that
requires complete streets approaches to be
considered in the planning, design, construction,
and rehabilitation of roadways that receive federal
or state funding.133
To improve infrastructure on existing streets not
slated for reconstruction, local governments can
prioritize these projects in their transportation
planning processes. Localities could get federal
transportation funding for these improvements
by working with their state departments of
transportation.
Local governments can implement some street
improvements with minimal cost. For example,
changing the timing on a walk signal at an
intersection costs almost nothing but makes
the street safer for pedestrians by giving them
more time to cross. Where the state owns
roadways, municipalities need to work with state
transportation agencies.
130 City of Kingston. Complete Streets Committee, www.kingston-ny.
gov/content/120/2336/2344/default.aspx.
131 City of Kingston. A Healthy Kingston for Kids, www.kingston-ny.
gov/content/120/2336/default.aspx.
132 City of Kingston. City of Kingston Complete Streets Policy
Framework.icno. www.kingston-ny.gov/fllestorage/120/2336/2344/
rs11090dg cs policy adopted.pdf.
133 Seskin, Stefanie."Excelsior! Complete Streets Will Be Law in New
York." National Complete Streets Coalition. August 16,2011.
www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2011/08/16/excelsior-complete-
streets-will-be-law-in-new-york/.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Improve Access to Opportunities
and Daily Necessities
All residents, regardless of race, ethnicity, or
economic status, should have access to the
basic ingredients of healthy, productive lives.
These include employment and educational
opportunities; services such as health care, child
care, and public transportation; and amenities
such as safe streets, parks and recreational
facilities, and grocery stores and other places to
buy nutritious food.
This section includes strategies for improving
access to key neighborhood destinations that
help address the challenges facing many low-
income, minority, and tribal communities. Diverse,
community-centered schools can serve as anchors
for surrounding neighborhoods and important
amenities for children and families. Safe Routes to
School programs improve children's health and
well-being by enabling them to walk and bicycle
to school. Incorporating nutritious food stores
and green spaces into neighborhoods can help
increase physical activity, reduce chronic disease,
and provide other health benefits. The strategies
in the earlier sections on housing, transportation,
and strengthening existing communities are also
important for creating access to opportunities
and amenities.
This community health workshop in Detroit, Michigan,
provided residents with basic health analyses and the
opportunity to have private conversations with medical
professionals. The workshop focused on health issues
important to the community.
Photo courtesy of Lauren Cooper.
Promote Diverse, Community-
Centered Schools
A community-centered school is located near the
families it serves, is accessible via multiple modes
of transportation, fits well with the neighborhood,
and has a relatively small footprint. There are
many benefits of community-centered schools
for low-income and overburdened communities.
Because community-centered schools are
centrally located, students, parents, and faculty
can get to them on foot, by bicycle, or via school
bus, public transit, or driving. The availability of
multiple transportation options can save families
money. Children who walk or bike to school get
regular exercise as part of their daily routines,
and they can access playgrounds and school
facilities after school, on the weekends, or during
the summer, which encourages them to stay
active in a safe environment. Children can spend
more time playing and learning instead of sitting
through long car or bus rides. Having a school
nearby makes parent participation much more
feasible for busy families, and parent involvement
is linked to student performance.134
Centrally located schools can be community
resources as well. Facilities can be used for events
during non-school hours, such as adult classes,
Boy and Girl Scout meetings, after-school sports,
performing arts, and voting. Some schools
offer health, dental, childcare, and employment
services. To facilitate broader community use
of school facilities like playgrounds, libraries,
kitchens, and community gardens, joint use
agreements can be created between schools
and city recreation departments and other local
government agencies, organizations like the Boys
and Girls Clubs, and other community groups.
This is particularly important in rural communities
that might lack other public facilities.
Many communities contain schools, and
preserving those schools can anchor
neighborhood revitalization. Abandoning and
134 Hoover-Dempsey, Kathleen V. and Sandier, Howard M."Parental
Involvement in Children's Education: Why Does It Make a
Difference?" Teachers College Record, 97(2): 310-331.1995.
www.vanderbilt.edu/peabody/family-school/papers/childrens
education.pdf.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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The Moore Square Museums Magnet Middle School is
situated in the heart of Raleigh, North Carolina's cultural and
arts district, providing students with a unique educational
opportunity that takes advantage of downtown institutions.
Within walking distance of diverse neighborhoods and the
Capital Area Transit bus center, the school has a socially
and economically diverse student body and has helped
strengthen and revitalize the surrounding area. Photo
courtesy of Wake County Public School System/City of Raleigh.
demolishing schools in existing communities can
result in decreased property values; in contrast,
the presence of a local school raises property
values and encourages more public and private
investment in the neighborhood.135 This in turn
reinforces the tax base available to the schools. In
newer communities that are building schools, it
is important to site those schools so they are easy
to access.
Various decision-makers influence where new
schools are sited, whether existing ones are
maintained or closed down, and how schools
fit into the community. School districts have
direct control over school siting decisions. Local
governments decide where other community
elements, such as housing, parks, and sidewalks,
are located in relation to schools, and make
long-term plans for surrounding neighborhoods.
Collaboration between school districts and local
planners can help link school siting decisions to
development plans, create better connections
between schools and adjacent neighborhoods,
promote the co-location and joint use of
schools with other facilities, and better align
comprehensive and school facility plans. States
also influence where school facilities are located,
often helping to fund school renovation,
maintenance, and construction and providing
siting and size guidelines. Municipalities can
promote community-centered schools by
working with state governments to remove
minimum acreage requirements, which often call
for large sites not typically available in existing
neighborhoods; remove state funding biases that
favor the construction of new buildings even if
renovation is less expensive; and fund regular
maintenance and repair, particularly of older
school facilities in underserved communities.136
When promoting community-centered schools,
decision-makers should consider potential air,
soil, and water contamination. Uncontaminated
sites that meet the educational, economic,
and community goals discussed above are
preferable. However, such sites can be hard to
find in established communities, and school
districts are often faced with choosing among
sites that have some level of contamination from
Homes in Portland, Oregon's New Columbia neighborhood
are close to amenities such as a grocery store, parks,
the Rosa Parks Elementary School, community college
classrooms, and a Boys and Girls Club. Photo couresty of
Housing Authority of Portland.
135 National Trust for Historic Preservation. Helping Johnny Walk to
School. 2010.www.preservationnation.org/information-center/
saving-a-place/historic-schools/helping-iohnny-walk-to-school/.
136 National Trust for Historic Preservation. Helping Johnny Walk to
School. 2010.www.preservationnation.org/information-center/
saving-a-place/historic-schools/helping-iohnny-walk-to-school/.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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prior uses or that are close to potential sources
of contamination. It is possible to safely locate
schools on those sites by carefully evaluating and
addressing the environmental and public health
risks and benefits. EPA has developed school
siting guidelines to help local education agencies,
states, and tribes identify and implement site-
specific and community-wide exposure and risk
reduction strategies.137
Community-centered schools can have
unintended effects on school diversity. Few
neighborhoods are representative of the racial,
ethnic, or economic makeup of their community
or school district as a whole. As a result, schools
whose student populations come only from
nearby neighborhoods might be more racially,
ethnically, or economically homogeneous than
those that draw from a larger geographic area. In
other words, it might be difficult to have schools
that are both diverse and close to residences.
However, diversity, health, environmental
protection, and community vibrancy are all
important outcomes that school districts can aim
to balance.
The long-term solution to this challenge is
diverse, mixed-income communities where
neighborhoods—and student bodies—reflect
the broader population. In the shorter term,
municipalities, school districts, and community-
based organizations can explore other responses.
For instance, school districts and land use
planners can consider both proximity to the
families served and the diversity of school
populations when making decisions about
school siting, rehabilitation, and closure. Planners
and school officials can also work together to
encourage neighborhood diversity near schools
with development projects that provide mixed-
income housing close to schools. In addition,
school districts can promote diverse, community-
centered schools by designing school attendance
zones and assignment policies to support
walkability and diversity.
Create Safe Routes to School
Safe Routes to School programs are efforts by
parents, schools, community leaders, and local
and state governments to improve the health
and well-being of children by enabling and
encouraging them to walk and bicycle to school.
In 2009,13 percent of children 5 to 14 years of
age walked or bicycled to school, compared
with 48 percent of children in 1969.138 Reduced
physical activity rates are associated with
obesity and chronic disease, problems that
disproportionately affect low-income and
minority children. When students are able to
walk or bike to school, they are more likely to get
the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical
activity, which can help reduce childhood obesity
and related health issues.
Relative to higher-income children, more low-
income children do walk to school, some on busy
streets with fast-moving traffic, no pedestrian
paths, and dangerous street crossings.139 Safe
Routes to School approaches provide strategies
low-income and minority communities can use
to get more students walking and bicycling to
school where it is safe and to improve conditions
where it is not. These strategies include education,
Safe Routes to School programs can include education for
students on safe bicycling and walking, such as this
class in Phoenix, Arizona.
Photo courtesy ofwww.pedbikeimages.org/Mike Cynecki.
137 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. School Siting Guidelines.
2011. www.epa.gov/schools/siting.
138 National Center for Safe Routes to School. The Decline of Walking
and Bicycling.www.saferoutesinfo.org/guide/introduction/the
decline of walking and bicycling.cfm. Accessed 2011.
139 Safe Routes to School National Partnership. Implementing Safe
Routes to School in Low-Income Schools and Communities. 2010.
www.saferoutespartnership.org/lowincomeguide.
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engineering, enforcement, and encouragement.
Education programs teach students safety skills
for walking and bicycling and teach motorists
how to drive safely around pedestrians and
bicyclists. Engineering projects improve
sidewalks, crosswalks, signs, and signals to create
safer places to walk or bike. Enforcement efforts
increase awareness of laws protecting walkers
and bicyclists and guiding driver behavior.
Encouragement strategies such as contests and
rewards help to create excitement around walking
and biking.
Some elements of a Safe Routes to School
program, such as Walk to School Days, signs, and
painting crosswalks, cost very little money. Others,
such as new sidewalk construction, require more
funding. Safe Routes to School activities are
eligible for DOT funding that is distributed to
metropolitan planning organizations and state
departments of transportation.
Communities are designing Safe Routes to School
programs that meet their unique needs. For
instance, crime or fear of crime inhibits walking
and biking to school in some places. Other
communities have cited obstacles like abandoned
buildings and stray dogs.To address these issues,
residents can organize safety patrols made up
of older students, create school route maps, and
coordinate "walking school buses"or"bicycle
trains," which are groups of students accompanied
by adults that walk or bicycle a pre-planned route
to school.
The principal and teachers from Thomas
Elementary School in Flagstaff, Arizona, worked
with the municipal health and parks departments
and local law enforcement to address safety
issues in nearby Bushmaster Community Park, a
hub for activities that threatened students'safety
while walking to school. A local business donated
office space for a police substation one-quarter
mile from the park, and volunteers asked local
businesses to stop offering the individually sold
bottles of beer that contributed to many of the
problems in the park. The community also began
weekly walking school buses.140
Provide Access to Healthy Food
Many underserved neighborhoods lack sources
of healthy, affordable food, a challenge linked
to the high rates of diet-related diseases among
low-income and minority populations.141-142 A
number of issues can contribute to these "food
deserts," including supermarkets'perceptions
that low-income neighborhoods are not
profitable locations, an assumed lack of spending
power among residents, a lack of viable sites,
high land and development costs, and lengthy
approval processes.143
However, economic research shows that low-
income neighborhoods can have significant
purchasing power and unmet demand.144-145
Local planning and economic development
agencies and community organizations are
building on these findings by conducting
their own market studies, removing barriers,
and providing incentives to attract grocery
stores into neighborhoods that need them. For
example, planners and economic developers
are identifying and assembling suitable land for
grocery store sites, speeding project approvals,
and offering workforce development programs to
prepare local residents for food retail jobs. Others
are using financing tools to attract retailers,
including New Market Tax Credits and private
bank loans as well as federal and state grants.
In New York City, the East Harlem Abyssinian
Triangle development organization and the
Abyssinian Development Corporation secured
public financing that attracted private money to
bring a supermarket to a predominantly African-
140 Safe Routes to School National Partnership. Implementing Safe
Routes to School in Low-Income Schools and Communities. 2010.
www.saferoutespartnership.org/lowincomeguide.
141 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Obesity
Data/Statistics, minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.
aspx?lvl=3&lvlid=550. Accessed 2010.
142 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Diabetes
Data/Statistics, minorityhealth.hhs.gov/templates/browse.
aspx?lvl=3&lvlid=62. Accessed 2010.
143 Change Lab Solutions. Getting to Grocery: Tools for Attracting
Healthy Food Retail to Underserved Neighborhoods. 2012.
changelabsolutions.org/publications/getting-grocery.
144 Porter, Michael. The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City. Harvard
Business Review. May/June 1995. Porter estimated that America's
inner cities had roughly $85 billion in annual purchasing power (or
7 percent of total retail spending). In many neighborhoods, more
than 25 percent of demand for goods was not being met locally.
145 Miara, James. Retail in Inner Cities. Urban Land. January 2007.
www.icic.org/ee uploads/publications/Retail-in-lnner-Cities-ULI-
ICIC-012007.pdf.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
The North City Farmers' Market in Old North St. Louis
provides free health screenings and healthy cooking
demonstrations. PhotocourtesyoftheCityofSt. Louis and the
Old North St. Louis Restoration Group.
American and Latino neighborhood in Harlem.146
The supermarket agreed to give local residents
at least 75 percent of the store's jobs. Since it
opened in 1999, the store has met or exceeded
industry averages for profitability.147
Corner markets and convenience stores can also
be sources of healthy foods. These small retailers
might already be operating in underserved
communities, and new ones might be able to
fit into existing neighborhoods without lengthy
development processes. Local government
agencies can help small retailers sell healthy
foods by providing grants or loans for physical
improvements or equipment such as shelving or
refrigeration units; covering the costs of initial
healthy food orders; and offering marketing
assistance for advertising, signage, and
community outreach.148
The First Oriental Market in Philadelphia received a $500,000
loan from the Fresh Food Financing Initiative to help its
owners purchase the property they had previously leased.
Photo courtesy of Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative.
Retail stores are not the only potential outlets for
fresh and healthy food. Nonprofit organizations
can plant community gardens and start farmers'
markets to bring produce from regional farms
into neighborhoods. Another approach is
community-supported agriculture, which allows
residents to purchase shares from farmers at the
beginning of a growing season in exchange for
a portion of the crops. The farm either delivers
directly to homes or distributes at a specific
location in the neighborhood.
Local zoning and permitting regulations can
prevent or slow the development of community
gardens, farmers'markets, and mobile produce
vending. Planners can remove regulatory barriers
and ensure that zoning encourages sources of
healthy food in neighborhoods that currently
lack them.149
146 The Abyssinian Neighborhood Project won EPA's National Award
for Smart Growth Achievement in 2007. For more information, see
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,"2007 National Award
for Smart Growth Achievement"at www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/
awards/sg awards publication 2007.htm.
147 Flournoy, Rebecca."Healthy Foods, Strong Communities."
Shelterforce Online. National Housing Institute. 2006.
www.nhi.org/online/issues/147/healthyfoods.html.
148 Healthy Corner Stores Network. Healthy Corner Stores Q&A. 2011.
www.healthycornerstores.org/healthy-corner-stores-q-a.
149 Change Lab Solutions. Zoning Talking Points. 2012.
changelabsolutions.org/publications/zoning-talking-points.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Some state and federal agencies provide
resources to improve access to healthy
food in low-income and minority
communities. In 2004, the state of
Pennsylvania, the nonprofit Food Trust,
and The Reinvestment Fund, a community
development financial institution (CDFI),
created the Pennsylvania Fresh Food
Financing Initiative.150They committed
$150 million to increase the number
of grocery stores and supermarkets
in underserved, low-income urban
neighborhoods and small towns.151
The initiative provides grants and loans
to qualified food retail enterprises for
land acquisition financing, equipment
financing, construction and permanent
finance, workforce development, and other
activities. As of 2011,the initiative has
invested $192 million to develop 90 new
stores, creating or preserving more than
5,000 jobs and improving access to healthy
food for more than half a million people.152
The U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains the
Food Environment Atlas, an online tool that allows
users to identify food deserts.153 The Healthy Food
Financing Initiative, a partnership among the
U.S. Departments of Treasury, Agriculture, and
Health and Human Services, is working to expand
the availability of nutritious food, including
developing grocery stores, small retailers, corner
stores, and farmers' markets and equipping them
to sell healthy food.154 In 2011, the Healthy Food
150 The Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative won EPA's
National Award for Smart Growth Achievement in 2006. For more
information, see the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,"2006
National Award for Smart Growth Achievement" at www.epa.gov/
smartgrowth/awards/sg awards publication 2006.htm.
151 New Rules Project. Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative.
www.newrules.org/retail/rules/flnancing-local-businesses/
pennsylvania-fresh-food-flnancing-initiative. Accessed 2011.
152 The Food Trust. Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative.
www.thefoodtrust.org/php/programs/fffl.php. Accessed 2011.
153 U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food Environment Atlas.
www.ers.usda.gov/FoodAtlas. Accessed 2011.
154 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy Food
Financing Initiative, www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/ocs food.
html. Accessed 2011.
Financing Initiative awarded $25 million in grants
through the Treasury Department's Community
Development Financial Institutions Fund to 12
CDFIs working to increase access to affordable
healthy foods.155
Provide Access to Parks and Green Space
Green space at all scales—from small
neighborhood parks to greenways to forests
and wetlands—provides health, social, and
environmental benefits for low-income and
overburdened communities. Parks, community
gardens, playing fields, riverfront shorelines, and
wildlife refuges offer opportunities for physical
activity, social engagement, and mental respite.
These natural and cultivated spaces provide
habitat for wildlife and serve important biological
functions that purify air and water, lower ambient
air temperatures, and absorb rainwater to reduce
flooding in developed areas.
Coalitions of community organizations, land
conservationists, planners, and public health
groups are combining funding from local, state,
federal, nonprofit, and private sources to create
parks and green spaces.The Bootheel Heart Health
Project, a collaboration between the Missouri
Department of Health and Senior Services and
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
built walking trails in 12 rural, predominantly
African-American communities in southeast
Missouri. Almost 60 percent of trail users reported
that they exercised more because of the trail.156
In Chattanooga,Tennessee, community activists,
the Trust for Public Land, and city officials
partnered to create the Alton ParkSafewalkto
serve the low-income Alton Park neighborhood.157
The urban greenway connects residents to the
South Chattanooga Recreational Center and
155 U.S. Department of the Treasury. "CDFI Fund Announces $25 Million
in Healthy Food Financing Initiative Awards." September 2011.
www.cdflfund.gov/news events/CDFI-2011-18-CDFI-Fund-
Announces-$25-Million-in-Healthy-Food-Financing-lnitiative-
Awards.asp.
156 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Preventing Chronic
Diseases: Investing Wisely in Health. 2003. atfiles.org/files/pdf/CDC-
HHS.pdf.
157 International City/County Management Association. Active Living and
Social Equity: Creating Healthy Communities for All Residents. 2005.
bookstore.icma.org/Active Living and Social Equit P1247C15.cfm?
UserlD=7333666&isessionid=4e3049a2a14454137426.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
IMPROVE ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES AND DAILY NECESSITIES
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Community members in National City, California, led the
restoration of Paradise Creek, a tidal saltwater marsh that
had been harmed by pollution and dumping.Through
organized cleanups, fundraising, collaboration with the
local government, and native species planting, they created
the Paradise Creek Educational Park, which will be the
centerpiece of a planned affordable housing and transit-
oriented development. Photo courtesy of National City.
will eventually link to schools, churches, and
downtown Chattanooga through the planned
Chattanooga Creek Greenway.158
Communities are designing green spaces in
ways that respond to their specific needs, such
as improving visibility and lighting where crime
is a concern. The Olneyville Housing Corporation
worked with the Providence, Rhode Island police
department to design a park, playground, and
bike path on a strip of long-vacant land along
the Woonasquatucket River. By involving the
police in the planning process early and using
the principles of Crime Prevention through
Environmental Design—a set of approaches
aimed at designing the physical environment
to deter crime—the housing corporation made
siting and layout decisions that made the park
and bike path easier to police and safer for users.
As a result, these amenities are well-used by local
families in what was once one of Providence's
most dangerous neighborhoods.159
Parks can also be places of cultural expression.
The Campo Band of Mission Indians in southern
California obtained funding from the San Diego
Association of Governments to plan a community
park that reflects the tribe's values of health
and harmony with nature and welcomes all
generations.The park is being designed with
input from tribal staff, elders, and community
members and will include indigenous medicinal
and edible plants, a native orchard, and a
teaching pavilion.160
Municipalities can update their comprehensive
plans and zoning to protect existing parks
and encourage new green space. Some are
doing this by developing policies to encourage
green infrastructure as part of buildings,
neighborhoods, and streets. As discussed in the
section on green streets, green infrastructure
uses vegetation, soils, and natural processes
to manage polluted stormwater runoff. At the
scale of a city or county, green infrastructure
refers to the patchwork of natural areas that
provide habitat, flood protection, and cleaner
air and water. At the scale of a neighborhood or
site, green infrastructure refers to stormwater
management features that mimic nature by
soaking up and storing water.161 In both cases,
green infrastructure can also provide places
for recreation and make streets, public spaces,
and buildings more attractive and pleasant.
Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters plan uses
elements such as restored stream corridors and
wetlands, rain gardens, and green roofs to meet
federal requirements for stormwater management
while enhancing its neighborhoods. By 2029,
the city plans to replace at least one-third of its
impervious surfaces with green space to manage
stormwater naturally and beautify the city.162
158 Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Agency. Alton
Park/Piney Woods Community Plan (Draft). 2010. www.chcrpa.org/
Projects/Land Use Plans/Alton Park Plan/Alton%20Park%20
Master%20Plan%20(5-12-20101.ALL.pdf.
159 Local Initiatives Support Coalition Rhode Island. Riverside
Gateway-Providence, Rhode Island. www.chcrpa.org/Projects/
Land Use Plans/Alton Park Plan/Alton%20Park%20Master%20
Plan%20(5-12-20101.ALL.pdf. Accessed 2011.
160 Campo Band of Mission Indians. Final Project Report: Campo Tribal
Community Park Project: Hummingbird Community Park. 2012.
161 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Green Infrastructure.
water.epa.gov/infrastructure/greeninfrastructure/index.cfm.
Accessed 2012.
162 City of Philadelphia. Manage Stormwater to Meet Federal
Standards, www.phila.gov/green/greenworks/equity target8.html.
Accessed 2011.
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Preserve and Build On the
Features that Make a Community
Distinctive
Authentic community planning and revitalization
are anchored in the physical and cultural assets
that make a place unique. As decision-makers
and community stakeholders implement
the policies and strategies described in this
report, they should build on the distinctive
characteristics of their neighborhoods. Preserving
and strengthening the features that make a place
special maintains what existing residents value
about their homes, attracts new residents and
visitors, and spurs economic development that is
grounded in community identity.
Land use planning processes often begin with
visioning exercises where residents identify
the aspects of their neighborhood that they
like, including public spaces, long-standing
institutions, and local traditions. Effective
planning helps to preserve these assets and
strengthen them through future development.
This section discusses two broad approaches to
culturally focused planning and development:
preserving existing features that define local
heritage, and strengthening that heritage through
new development. Together, these strategies can
promote development that respects local history
and reinforces community pride.
Community leaders celebrate the unveiling of Minneapolis'
American Indian Cultural Corridor. Photo courtesy of the
Native American Community Development Institute.
Preserve Existing Cultural Features
Preserving the cultural heritage of a place can
mean maintaining its physical elements, including
buildings, main streets, public and civic spaces,
and agricultural and natural lands. It can also
mean supporting a community's cultural assets,
such as traditions, festivals, commemorations of
history, and shared community memories.These
features help define the neighborhood and its
values, are a source of local pride and identity,
and provide a foundation for community-based
revitalization and economic development.
A first step in cultural heritage preservation is to
identify physical and cultural assets that matter
to residents and document their histories and
importance. Community-based organizations
can collect information that tells the story of a
place or tradition through library and Internet
research, interviews, and site visits; communicate
those stories to decision-makers and the public;
and build support for preservation. Walking
tours, seminars, celebrations or remembrances,
place markers, museum exhibitions, oral history
recording projects, and websites can also educate
stakeholders and raise awareness about the
importance of a place or tradition.
A community or region's physical and cultural
assets can be a foundation for its land use and
economic development planning. Municipalities
and regional planning and development
organizations can strengthen these assets
using land use policies and regulations,
entrepreneurship and workforce programs, small
business retention and attraction, and industry
cluster development strategies that enhance
physical features and equip community members
to build skills, get and keep jobs, open businesses,
and shape economic growth that is homegrown
and authentic.
Historic preservation tools can help preserve
physical places or structures. Community
organizations can start the historic preservation
process by undertaking an assessment that
identifies interested stakeholder groups;
opportunities, such as a chance to obtain
ownership of a site; threats, such as potential
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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The Selma to Montgomery National Historic
Trail, created to commemorate the 1965
Voting Rights March in Alabama, runs
through an area facing high unemployment,
health concerns, and other economic and
social challenges.The trail is an important
cultural asset to local communities and
a potential economic driver. It passes
several interpretive centers, museums, and
monuments, and walking tours and other
educational opportunities are offered along
the way. Local communities are working with
HUD, DOT, EPA, and other federal and state
agencies to clean up former gas stations and
petroleum-contaminated brownfields along
the corridor, where residents hope to spur
revitalization and develop local businesses
such as craft and gift shops, restaurants, and
vegetable stands.163-164
Mt. Zion Church in West Montgomery, Alabama, is
an important historic landmark along the Selma to
Montgomery National Historic Trail. The community
is working with federal and state agencies to advance
community revitalization and historic preservation in
Montgomery and three other locations along the trail.
Photo courtesy of EPA.
demolition; the parties with control over the
property; and specific goals, such as getting a
structure recognized as a historic landmark or
securing financial support to restore it.
There are various ways of obtaining official
recognition for a historic site and, in some cases,
protecting it. Getting a building listed on the
State or National Registers of Historic Places
brings eligibility for tax credits and protection in
the form of extra scrutiny if a site is threatened,
though it does not prevent demolition. After San
Francisco's Bayview Opera House, the nation's first
African-American opera house, was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, it received
funding and technical assistance from the
National Trust for Historic Preservation.165 Local,
state, and federal landmark laws are other tools to
protect historic properties.
Some historic preservation programs focus more
on architecture and aesthetics than on history
and culture, which can create hurdles for places
that are notable primarily for their association
with an event, era, or tradition. To overcome
this challenge, stakeholders must provide a
well-researched history of the place and show
evidence of public support. Residents of the Bronx
are working with the borough government to
encourage the New York Landmarks Preservation
Commission to declare the Bronx's casitas, or
"little houses/'city landmarks. Casitas, reminiscent
of the wood farmhouses in the Puerto Rican
countryside, might not always exemplify "notable"
architecture, but they are vital elements of Puerto
Rican culture in New York and have played an
important role in neighborhood revitalization.166
Some localities have included historic
preservation elements in their master plans
that lay out visions, goals, and implementation
strategies to protect historic neighborhoods,
corridors, and commercial centers and enhance
the public's understanding of the community's
163 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. National Historic Voting
Rights Trail: Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. 2010.
www.epa.gov/oust/docs/al recactlyr story.pdf.
164 Partnership for Sustainable Communities. Three Years of Helping
Communities Achieve Their Visions for Growth and Prosperity.
2012. www.sustainablecommunities.gov/toolsKeyResources.html.
165 Smith, Matt."Restoring Bayview Opera House Lifts the Area."Son
Francisco Weekly. November 17,2010. www.sfweekly.com/2010-11-
17/news/restoring-bayview-opera-house-lifts-the-area.
166 Hughes, CJ."ln Bronx, Little Houses that Evoke Puerto Rico."Wew
YorkTimes. February 22,2009.www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/
nyregion/23casitas.html.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
history and historic assets. Municipalities can also
create historic preservation overlay zones that
encourage reuse of historic buildings, require
exterior building renovations and repairs to be
approved by historic preservation experts before
work begins, and allow historic preservation
commissions to comment on proposals before the
zoning board.
Community organizations can also preserve
a building by securing grants to renovate or
restore the structure, raising funds to purchase
it, or obtaining a long-term lease. They can also
collaborate with schools, libraries, churches,
and historical societies to identify new ways
the building can contribute to local life, such as
offering performance or meeting space to artists
or social groups.
Create New Development that
Strengthens Local Culture
By taking inspiration from important landmarks,
neighborhood designs, and local traditions,
new development in a community can
strengthen cultural identity. Design guidelines
and neighborhood conservation districts can
capture the specific physical characteristics
of development that determine the overall
character of a neighborhood and apply them to
new built projects.
With design guidelines, municipalities establish
common standards for the form and character
of a neighborhood and elements within
it. They can be tailored to specific types of
development projects, such as commercial
buildings, multifamily homes, industrial facilities,
or streets and sidewalks. Design guidelines can
contain standards that address the building
itself, including architectural style, scale, height,
roof form, materials, and color; its relationship
to the street, including orientation and setback;
landscaping; signage; and other elements.
Similarly, local governments can create pattern
books to provide developers and architects with
images of acceptable components of new and
renovated buildings.
The Mississippi Renewal Forum developed
a Gulf Coast pattern book to preserve the
architectural heritage of the region as it is
rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina.The book
provides images of building forms and
key architectural elements to be used in
the restoration and new construction of
individual homes, commercial buildings,
neighborhoods, and landscaping. It
describes traditional block layouts,
housing placement on lots, building types,
decorative elements, and materials, and
offers recommendations for fulfilling Federal
Emergency Management Agency rebuilding
requirements in a way that complements
historic character.167 By mixing different
options from the pattern book, developers
can create a variety of building types with a
common architectural standard.
Local governments usually implement design
guidelines as part of other development
regulations and policies. These guidelines are
most easily followed if they are clear, simple,
and illustrated with photographs and images.
In developing these guidelines, it is helpful for
planners and community organizations to work
with architects to distill the most important
elements of community character.
Municipalities use neighborhood conservation
districts, suitable for areas that are mostly built
out, to ensure that new development and
substantial modifications are in keeping with
local character. Like design guidelines, this
tool addresses the characteristics of buildings
and sites. Neighborhood conservation districts
are often implemented as zoning overlay
districts that establish design standards for new
construction, additions, or alterations to the
street-facing facades of existing buildings. They
can be simple, identifying the basic physical
features that define a neighborhood such as
167 Mississippi Renewal forum. A Pattern Bookfor Gulf Coast
Neighborhoods. 2005. www.mississippirenewal.com/documents/
Rep PatternBook.pdf.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
the position of buildings on the site and their
distance from the street, parking location, roof
form, and the existence of front porches. Some
communities prefer to implement voluntary
neighborhood conservation districts.
Kansas City, Missouri's Jazz District, once a
flourishing African-American community and a
hotbed of Kansas City jazz, is being revitalized
based on its cultural history, architectural styles,
and neighborhood character. The Jazz District
Redevelopment Corporation constructed
residential, commercial, and retail space designed
to complement existing architecture.168The
district has attracted commercial tenants such as
the Black Chamber of Commerce, the offices of an
African-American newspaper, a blues club, and
the Black Archives of Mid-America.169
Standards that clarify design and compatibility
preferences and requirements help create
predictability in the development process for
developers and community members. Guidelines
for developers are clearly established, making
their projects more likely to be approved and
reducing costly delays. Community members
can feel confident that new development
will reinforce what they like about their
neighborhoods. Providing images of preferred
building styles can further clarify these standards.
The design of Minneapolis'American Indian-owned
Woodlands National Bank and the accompanying public
art celebrate native cultures. Photo courtesy of the Native
American Community Development Institute.
168 Jazz District Redevelopment Corporation. Development
Opportunities. 2010. www.kcjazzdistrict.org/.
169 Jazz District Redevelopment Corporation. 18th and Vine Jazz District
Rebirth, www.kciazzdistrict.org/. Accessed 2011.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Case Study:
Culturally Driven Land Use Planning
OhkayOwingeh Pueblo, New Mexico
In 2000, Ohkay Owingeh's tribal members
created a pueblo-wide Master Land Use Plan that
encompassed all 5,800 square miles of Rio Arriba
County. This long-term growth strategy coordinates
future housing and commercial development and
preserves the community's historic plazas.The plan
both strengthens the pueblo's identity and protects
its natural surroundings by keeping the traditional
commitment to environmentally sensitive design.
The Master Land Use Plan was the first tribal smart
growth plan in the country and won EPA's National
Award for Smart Growth Achievement in 2004.
Located 35 miles north of Santa Fe, Ohkay
Owingeh, formerly called San Juan Pueblo, has a
population of 6,750. Over the years, the pueblo
has faced unemployment, water constraints,
and housing shortages. Nearly 20 percent of its
residents live below the poverty line, and there is a
long waiting list for housing.
Through their land use planning efforts, tribal
leaders realized that continuing to construct
housing away from the pueblo's center would
decrease the land available for agriculture and
open space. The tribe's infrastructure systems,
including those for water and wastewater, also
were not able to keep pace with the pueblo's
The Master Land Use Plan was
the first tribal smart growth plan
in the country and won EPA's
National Award for Smart Growth
Achievement in 2004.
dispersed development. The water and sewer
systems were at capacity and would not be able
to provide sufficient water supply or pressure with
future growth.
Approved in 2001, the Master Land Use Plan
coordinates existing transportation and water
infrastructure with housing and commercial
development, preserves the pueblo's historic
plazas, and promotes main street-style retail and
commercial development.The plan's guidelines
used traditional architectural designs that preserve
Ohkay Owingeh's cultural heritage and foster
a distinctive sense of place. With the adoption
of the Master Land Use Plan, the pueblo also
expanded the sewer system and installed two new
water tanks to allow for future growth, putting a
temporary moratorium on new development until
the upgrades were complete.
The first project implemented under the plan
wasTsigo Bugeh Village, a development of 40
affordable townhouses arranged around two
The design forTsigo Bugeh Village is inspired by traditional
pueblos, which include pedestrian-oriented villages. Photo
courtesy of the San Juan Pueblo Office of the Governor.
The buildings in Tsigo Bugeh Village are clustered around
two plazas, and contain affordable townhouses, a meeting
space, a playground, a computer room, a fitness room,
and business center. Photo courtesy of the
San Juan Pueblo Office of the Governor.
STRATEGIES LINKING SMART GROWTH, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
plazas. The village was inspired by the original
community design of the pueblo and includes
a meeting space, playground, computer room,
fitness room, and business center.
Collaboration among multiple organizations
brought Tsigo Bugeh Village to life. For two
years, the Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority
invited tribal members, elders, and tribal
leaders to participate in project planning.This
public engagement provided valuable input on
community concerns, including affordability and
safety, sacred geographic locations, and floor
plans to accommodate feast-day rituals. "The Tsigo
Bugeh Village project demonstrates that people
can help create housing that meets their needs,"
saysTomasita Duran,the housing authority's
executive director."The project combines modern
characteristics with our traditional design."
The pueblo built Tsigo Bugeh Village by making
innovative use of funding from HUD, state and local
agencies, and foundations. For the first time, HUD's
HOME funds, which are block grants to state and
local governments designed to create affordable
housing for low-income households, were used
for rental housing on tribal lands in New Mexico.
In another first, the New Mexico Mortgage Finance
Authority provided low-cost loans on American
Indian trust lands. The Ohkay Owingeh Housing
Authority also used federal Low-Income Housing
Tax Credits.
Ohkay Owingeh's Master Land Use Plan used
smart growth concepts such as affordable
housing, walkable neighborhoods, mixed land
uses, compact building design, and stakeholder
engagement to restore the pueblo's traditional
settlement patterns. As the tribe grows, it will use
the plan to preserve its strong sense of culture and
place for future generations.170
The central plazas in Tsigo Bugeh Village include "hornos,"
or traditional ovens. Photo courtesy of'the San Juan Pueblo
Office of the Governor.
170 For references, see page 77.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Chapter 4: Conclusion
The strategies outlined in this publication
can help low-income, minority, tribal, and
overburdened communities shape development
to respond to their needs and reflect their
values.These strategies can also help local and
regional planners and policy-makers make land
use decisions that are equitable, healthy, and
sustainable for all residents.
To chart a path forward and select the
approaches that will meet local goals, each
community can undertake a process of self-
evaluation and dialogue.This process might
include the following steps:
Build relationships among community-
based organizations, residents, community
development corporations, business owners,
developers, local and regional decision-
makers, and others interested in growth and
development issues. Effective partnerships
among these stakeholders are critical to
carrying out inclusive planning processes,
identifying the right policies and investment
priorities, and achieving development that
works for all residents. Community-based
organizations and community development
corporations can play a particularly
important role as liaisons to traditionally
underrepresented populations and bring
them into planning and development
processes.
Build capacity while you plan. Local and
regional staff and community-based
organizations can conduct inclusive
and educational planning exercises that
simultaneously identify residents'goals and
needs and build the knowledge they need to
shape development.These exercises include
community assessments and visioning
workshops.
Conduct community assessments and visioning
exercises. Planning tools such as walkability
audits and community planning and visioning
workshops are well-suited to drawing out the
needs and goals of residents who are new to
land use decision-making. Using these tools
with small groups of residents from specific
neighborhoods can facilitate an authentic
community-driven planning process.
Downtown Silver Spring, Maryland's streetscape is inviting,
interesting, and safe for families. Photo courtesy of Lee Sobel.
CONCLUSION
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
I*' !**.
'* *, '3
V'-A*._i p. / >^.- . *T ' £ _._ _._ ''
In Chicago, Illinois'Parkside of Old Town public housing redevelopment, greenways and playgrounds provide safe, visible play
areas, while pedestrian paths create easy routes between residences and the surrounding parks, community facilities, and stores.
Photo courtesy of Parkside of Old Town.
Ensure that land use and development policies
and codes are aligned with community
visions and address the needs of low-income
and overburdened communities. The
community's vision can be integrated into
the comprehensive plan, and the zoning
ordinance and other policy and regulatory
documents can be updated to implement the
plan. Tools such as inclusionary zoning, mixed-
use zoning, street design standards, and
others described throughout this publication
can be used to support low-income and
overburdened communities.
Start working to mitigate residential and
commercial displacement as early in
revitalization efforts as possible. Activities can
include mapping important commercial,
industrial, service, and cultural places;
assessing community demographic and
economic trends to identify areas vulnerable
to rising housing costs; setting aside land
for affordable housing; and putting land use
regulations in place to protect community
assets.
These steps can help communities develop their
visions for the future; identify strategies and
policies to achieve them; and create development
that is fair, enduring, and authentic.
ONCLUSION
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
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Resource Guide
General Smart Growth Resources
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Smart
Growth Proaram.www.epa.gov/smartarowth.
Provides basic information on smart growth
and resources offered by EPA's Office of
Sustainable Communities.
Smart Growth Network. This is Smart Growth.
2006. www.epa.gov/smartarowth/tisg.htm.
Provides visual and descriptive examples
of how smart growth principles have been
applied in cities, suburbs, small towns, and
rural areas. Also available in Spanish.
Smart Growth Network. Getting to Smart
Growth: WO Policies for Implementation. 2002.
www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/getting to sg2.
htm#1. Provides 100 specific policies that local
communities can use to implement smart
growth principles. Also available in Spanish.
Smart Growth Network. Getting to Smart
Growth Volume II: WO More Policies for
Implementation. 2003. www.epa.gov/
smartgrowth/getting to sg2.htm#2. Provides
100 additional specific policies that local
communities can use to implement smart
growth principles. Also available in Spanish.
General Environmental Justice Resources
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Environmental Justice, www.epa.gov/
compliance/ej. Provides basic information on
environmental justice and resources offered
by EPA's Environmental Justice program.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Plan
EJ2014. 2011. www.epa.gov/compliance/
ei/plan-ei/index.html. Outlines a four-year
roadmap to help EPA improve environmental
and health conditions in communities with
environmental justice concerns.
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. Symposium on the Science of
Disproportionate Environmental Health
Impacts, www.epa.gov/environmentaliustice/
multimedia/albums/epa/disproportionate-
impacts-symposium.html. Provides 14
scientific reviews commissioned by EPA to
examine why low-income, minority, and
tribal populations are exposed to greater
environmental pollution and experience
greater environmental health risks.
Federal Interagency Working Group on
Environmental Justice. EnvironmentalJustice
Federal Interagency Directory (POP, 52 pp.,
886K). 2011. www.epa.gov/compliance/ei/
resources/publications/interagency/directory.
pdf. Describes how various federal agencies
work on environmental justice issues and lists
key contacts in re levant fed era I programs.
Federal Interagency Working Group on
Environmental Justice. Community-Based
Federal EnvironmentalJustice Resource Guide
(PDF, 126 pp., 3MB). 2011. www.epa.gov/
compliance/ei/resources/publications/
interagency/resource-guide.pdf. Provides
information on federal programs that can help
communities reduce toxic exposures.
General Equitable Development Resources
PolicyLink. Equitable Development Toolkit.
www.policylink.org/site/clklXLbMNJrE/
b.5136575/k.39A1/Equitable Development
Toolkithtm. Includes 27 tools that can help
create vibrant and healthy neighborhoods,
prevent displacement, and promote equitable
revitalization. Provides descriptions, benefits,
implementation recommendations, potential
challenges, possible funding sources, and case
studies for each tool.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Glover Blackwell, Angela and Fox, Radhika K.
Regional Equity and Smart Growth:
Opportunities for Advancing Social and
Economic Justice in America. Flinders' Network
for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.
2004. www.fundersnetwork.org/learn/
resource-details/regional equity and smart
growth 1. Describes the concept of regional
equity, illustrates its use by diverse groups
across the country, and presents a framework
for advancing it.
Minimizing Displacement: An Early Priority in
Revitalization
National Environmental Justice
Advisory Council. Unintended Impacts of
Redevelopment and Revitalization Efforts
in Five EnvironmentalJustice Communities
(PDF, 40 pp., 284K).2006. www.epa.gov/
compliance/ej'/resources/publications/
nejac/redev-revital-recomm-9-27-06.pdf.
Contains recommendations on avoiding
the displacement that can follow successful
brownfields cleanup and redevelopment.
Urban Institute. In the Face ofGentrification:
Case Studies of Local Efforts to Mitigate
Displacement. 2006. www.urban.org/
publications/411294.html. Provides case
studies and strategies used by nonprofit
organizations, for-profit developers, and city
agencies to ensure that low- to moderate-
income residents can live in revitalizing
neighborhoods.
National Trust for Historic Preservation. Main
Street Programs, www.preservationnation.
org/main-street/about-main-street/the-
programs. Provides information and resources
for finding and coordinating Main Street
programs to stabilize and revitalize traditional
commercial districts.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development. Tax Incentive Guide for
Businesses in Renewal Communities,
Empowerment Zones, and Enterprise
Communities (PDF, 124 pp., 1.2MB).
2001. www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/
economicdevelopment/library/taxguide2003.
pdf. Provides information about federal
tax incentives available to businesses
in Empowerment Zones, Enterprise
Communities, and Renewal Communities.
Good Jobs First. Community Benefits
Agreements: Making Development Projects
Accountable, www.goodjobsfirst.org/
publications/community-benefits-
agreements-making-development-projects-
accountable. Provides information and
resources related to implementation,
monitoring, and enforcement of community
benefits agreements.
Facilitate Meaningful Community Engagement
in Planning and Land Use Decisions
Smart Growth America. Choosing Our
Community's Future: A Citizen's Guide to Getting
the Most Out of New Development. 2005.
www.smartgrowthamerica.org/guides/
choosing-our-communitys-future-a-citizens-
guide-to-getting-the-most-out-of-new-
development/. Focuses on the visioning
and planning efforts that set the stage for
smarter growth and provides tips for citizens
who want to shape development in their
communities.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Public Involvement Plan and Toolkit for Las
Cruces. 2011. www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/
sgia communities.htm#nm2. Provides a menu
of outreach and participation tools that invite
and maintain the participation of diverse, low-
income populations and others with limited
previous involvement in community planning
and design.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Superfund Community Involvement Tool kit.
www.epa.gov/superfund/community/toolkit.
htm. Describes a range of tools that can be
used to involve the community in Superfund
cleanup and reuse processes as well as other
revitalization activities.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Community Food Assessment. 2010. www.cdc.
gov/healthyplaces/healthtopics/healthyfood/
community assessment.htm. Provides
resources and tools for communities to
conduct community food assessments and
determine the locations of food deserts.
Walkable Communities, Inc. Frequently Asked
Questions, www.walkable.org/faqs.html.
Answers questions about how to conduct
walking audits.
Fannie Mae Foundation. Charrettes 707:
Dynamic Planning for Community Change (PDF,
12pp., 212KB). 2003. www.charretteinstitute.
org/resources/files/BuildingBlocks4 1.
pdf. Describes how to use charrettes and
stakeholder analysis to improve public
participation processes.
U.S. Department of Justice. Title VI of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964. www.justice.gov/
crt/about/cor/coord/titlevi.php. Provides
overview and materials on Title VI of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits
discrimination on the basis of race, color, and
national origin in programs and activities
receiving federal financial assistance.
U.S. Department of Justice. Executive
Order No. 13166. www.iustice.gov/crt/
about/cor/I 3166.php. Provides overview
and materials on Executive Order 13166,
Improving Access to Services for Persons with
Limited English Proficiency.
Promote Public Health and a Clean and Safe
Environment
ChangeLab Solutions. A New Ally for
Redevelopment: Working with Public
Health (PDF, 4pp., 1.3MB). 2011. www.
changelabsolutions.org/publications/redev-
public-health. Provides tips for planners on
partnering with public health departments.
National Academy of Public Administration.
Addressing Community Concerns: How
EnvironmentalJustice Relates to Land Use
Planning and Zoning (PDF, 229pp., 3.5MB).
2003. www.epa.gov/compliance/ej7
resources/reports/annual-project-reports/
napa-land-use-zoning-63003.pdf. Examines
how local government decisions on land use
planning and zoning can be used to address
environmental justice issues.
California Air Resources Board./l/rQua//fy
and Land Use Handbook: A Community Health
Perspective. 2005. www.arb.ca.gov/ch/landuse.
htm. Provides general recommendations for
siting sensitive land uses and integrating
localized air quality concerns into land use
processes.
Partnership for Sustainable Communities.
National City, California Recommendations for
Ranking Properties with Nonconforming Uses
in the Westside Specific Plan Area (PDF, 25pp.,
415KB). 2011. www.epa.gov/brownfields/
sustain pits/reports/property ranking
process.pdf. Describes how National City is
identifying properties with nonconforming
uses, ranking them based on a consistent
set of criteria, and developing amortization
recommendations.
National Environmental Justice Advisory
Council. Reducing Air Emissions Associated
with Goods Movement: Working Towards
EnvironmentalJustice (PDF, 48 pp., 1.9MB).
2009. www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/
resources/publications/nejac/2009-goods-
movement.pdf. Recommends methods to
reduce air pollution from goods movement
and mitigate its impacts on environmental
justice communities.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Brownfields and Land Revitalization. www.
epa.gov/brownfields. Provides information
on brownfields laws, cleanup tools and
techniques, success stories, and grants,
funding, and technical assistance.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Superfund Redevelopment, www.epa.gov/
superfund/programs/recycle/. Provides
information on Superfund redevelopment
policies and guidance, tools and resources,
and success stories.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Center for Environmental Policy and
Management, University of Louisville.
Connecting Smart Growth and Brownfields
Redevelopment (PDF, 24pp., 725KB).
2006. www.louisville.edu/cepm/
Connectinq%20Smart%20Growth%20
and%20Brownfields%20Redevelopment.
pdf. Examines planning strategies, financing
options, and institutional practices that can
help promote brownfield redevelopment.
U.S. Environmental Protecting Agency. Green
Building.www.epa.gov/greenbuilding.
Provides basic information on green
building benefits, strategies, and funding
opportunities.
U.S. Green Building Council. What is
LEED? www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.
aspx?CMSPaaelD=1988. Provides basic
information on the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) green building
certification program.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
ENERGY STAR Homes, www.eneraystar.gov/
index.cfm?c=new homes.hm index. Provides
information on EPA's ENERGY STAR New
Homes program.
Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.
Enterprise Green Communities, www.
enterprisecommunity.com/solutions-and-
innovation/enterprise-green-communities.
Provides tools, financing and technical
assistance options, and other resources to
help build and preserve green affordable
housing, including information on the
Enterprise Green Communities Criteria
certification system.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Green
Infrastructure, water.epa.gov/infrastructure/
greeninfrastructure/index.cfm. Includes
basic information, technical resources, case
studies, and sources of funding for green
infrastructure approaches.
Strengthen Existing Communities
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Essential Smart Growth Fixes for Communities.
www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/essential fixes.
htm. Provides two publications that can help
urban, suburban, and rural communities
update their codes and ordinances to
strengthen existing neighborhoods, expand
housing and transportation choices, and
preserve open space.
Smart Growth America and Taxpayers
for Common Sense. Repair Priorities:
Transportation Spending Strategies to
Save Taxpayer Dollars and Improve Roads.
2011. www.smartgrowthamerica.org/
repair-priorities. Describes the benefits of
investing in road repair and preservation and
recommends state and federal actions that
would improve our transportation system
while saving taxpayer money.
National Vacant Properties Campaign. Vacant
Properties: The True Costs to Communities. 2005.
www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2005/08/01/
vacant-properties-the-true-cost-to-
communities. Summarizes research on the
costs vacant and abandoned properties
impose upon communities and highlights
local programs successfully recapturing the
value in these properties.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Restructuring the Commercial Strip: A Practical
Guide for Planning the Revitalization of
Deteriorating Strip Corridors. 2010. www.
epa.gov/smartgrowth/corridor guide.htm.
Provides guidance on coordination of public
and private investments and planning and
design strategies that can help revitalize
commercial strip corridors.
Center for Community Progress. Land Banks
and Land Banking (PDF, 120pp., 2.8MB). 2011.
www.communityprogress.net/filebin/pdf/
new resrcs/LB Book 2011 F.pdf. Provides
a step-by-step guide for taking control of
vacant properties through land banking and
leveraging them to spur smart development
and meet community needs.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Provide Housing Choices
National Neighborhood Coalition and Smart
Growth Network. Affordable Housing and
Smart Growth: Making the Connection. 2001.
www.epa.gov/smartqrowth/topics/ah.htm.
Uses case studies to illustrate strategies that
can foster affordable housing and smart
growth.
National Housing Trust. Affordable Housing
Preservation Frequently Asked Questions.
www.nhtinc.org/preservation faq.php.
Provides answers to frequently asked
questions about affordable housing
preservation.
Business and Professional People for the
Public Interest. Community Guide to Creating
Affordable Housing (PDF, 48pp., 938KB).
2005. www.bpichicago.org/documents/
Communityauidetocreatinaaffordablehousing
.pdf. Highlights a number of affordable
housing tools that communities can use to
create moderately priced housing.
PolicyLink. What is Inclusionary Zoning?
www.policvlink.ora/site/c.lklXLbMNJrE/
b.5137027/k.FF49/lnclusionarv Zoning.
htm. Provides an overview of inclusionary
zoning and considers the key issues related to
implementing an effective program.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development. Low Income Housing Tax
Credits Basics, www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/
affordablehousing/training/web/lihtc/basics.
Provides basic information on Low Income
Housing Tax Credits.
Provide Transportation Options
PolicyLink, Prevention Institute, and the
Convergence Partnership. Healthy, Equitable
Transportation Policy: Recommendations and
Research. 2009. www.preventioninstitute.org/
component/jlibrarv/article/id-118/127.html.
Examines how transportation policy can help
create sustainable, healthy, and equitable
communities.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Guide
to Sustainable Transportation Measures.
2011. www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/transpo
performance.htm. Describes opportunities
for transportation agencies to incorporate
environmental, economic, and social
sustainability into decision-making through
the use of performance measures.
Center for Transit-Oriented Development.
Mixed-Income Transit-Oriented Development
Action Guide, www.mitod.org. Provides a tool
to identify the most appropriate and effective
strategies for achieving mixed-income transit-
oriented development.
Center for Transit-Oriented Development.
Mixed-Income Housing Near Transit: Increasing
Affordability With Location Efficiency. 2009.
www.reconnectingamerica.org/public/
display asset/091030ra201 mixedhousefinal.
Explores best practices for creating mixed-
income housing as part of transit-oriented
development.
Smart Growth America. National Complete
Streets Coalition: What Are Complete Streets?
www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-
streets/complete-streets-fundamentals/
complete-streets-faq. Provides answers to
frequently asked questions about complete
streets policies.
Improve Access to Opportunities and Daily
Necessities
National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Helping Johnny Walk to School. 2010. www.
preservationnation.org/information-center/
saving-a-place/historic-schools/helping-
johnny-walk-to-school/. Provides policy
recommendations for removing barriers to
community-centered schools.
Council of Educational Facility Planners
International and U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Schools for Successful
Communities: An Element of Smart Growth.
www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/schools.htm.
Explains how communities can employ smart
RESOURCE GUIDE
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
growth principles to build schools that better
serve students, staff, parents, and the entire
community.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. School
Siting Guidelines, www.epa.gov/schools/
siting. Provides voluntary guidelines that can
help evaluate environmental factors to make
the best possible school siting decisions.
National Center for Safe Routes to School.
Build and Sustain a Program, www.
saferoutesinfo.org/program-tools/build-and-
sustain-program. Provides information on
how to start a Safe Routes to School program.
Safe Routes to School National Partnership.
Implementing Safe Routes to School in Low-
Income Schools and Communities. 2010. www.
saferoutespartnership.org/lowincomeguide.
Offers tips for implementing Safe Routes to
School programs in low-income communities
and describes 20 communities that are
addressing personal safety, traffic safety, and
other challenges using Safe Routes to School
approaches.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Community Gardens, www.cdc.gov/
healthyplaces/healthtopics/healthyfood/
community.htm. Provides tools and resources
related to community gardens, including a
library of detailed case studies of community
gardening efforts around the country.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Community
Supported Agriculture, www.nal.usda.
gov/afsic/pubs/csa/csa.shtml. Provides
data, history, and publications related to
community supported agriculture, as well as
links to searchable farm directories.
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food
Environment Atlas, www.ers.usda.gov/
FoodAtlas. Provides statistics and maps
describing communities'ability to access
healthy food.
Trust for Public Land. The Benefits of Parks.
2003. www.tpl.org/publications/books-
reports/park-benefits/benefits-of-parks-
white-paper.html. Describes the need for
urban parks and the social, environmental,
economic, and health benefits they bring to
residents.
Virginia Crime Prevention Association. CPTED
Guidelines (PDF, 80pp., 1.2MB). 2005. www.
illinoislighting.org/resources/VCPA%20
CPTED%20Guidelines.pdf. Describes Crime
Prevention Through Environmental Design
principles and design strategies for different
types of destinations within communities.
Preserve and Build On the Features that Make
a Community Distinctive
Place Matters. Place Matter Tool kit, www.
placematters.net/node/13. Provides tools to
help citizens identify, promote, and protect
the places they care about.
U.S. Department of Interior. National Park
Service. National Register of Historic Places.
www.nps.gov/nr/index.htm. Provides
information on how to list a property on the
National Register of Historic Places, as well as
the official list of historic sites.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Examples of Codes That Support Smart
Growth Development, www.epa.gov/
smartgrowth/codeexamples.htm. Provides
examples of adopted codes and guidelines
from around the U.S. that can help
communities get the types of development
they want.
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Case Study References
Inclusive Neighborhood Planning - Seattle,
Washington
Interview with Nora Liu, Neighborhood
Planning Manager, City of Seattle, Fall 2010.
City of Seattle Department of Planning
and Development. Othello Neighborhood
Plan Update. 2010. www.seattle.
aov/dpd/Planning/Neiahborhood
Planning/NeighborhoodPlanUpdates/
MLKatHollvStreet/default.asp.
City of Seattle Department of Planning
and Development. Othello Neighborhood
Action Plan. 2010. www.seattle.gov/
dpd/cms/groups/pan/(5)pan/(5)plan/(5)
neighborplanning/documents/web
informational/dpdp020219.pdf.
City of Seattle. Race and Social Justice
Initiative, www.seattle.gov/rsji. Accessed
November 28,2010.
Lee, Mona."Othello N'hood Planning in a
Broader Historical Context."/?a/n/er Valley Post.
July 10,2010. www.rainiervalleypost.com/
othello-neighborhood-plan ning-in-a-broader-
historical-context-op-ed.
• McGee, Henry W. Jr."Seattle's Central District,
1990-2006: Integration or Displacement?"
Urban Law. Volume 39.2007. According to
McGee, between 1990 and 2004, households
earning more than 150 percent of the median
income expanded faster than any other
income category and now comprise one-
third of Seattle's total households. In 2005,
roughly 2,000 rental units were converted to
condominiums while another 680 units were
demolished.
Pryne, Eric. "New Light Rail Clears Way for
an MLK Makeover."Seattle Times. April 20,
2008. seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/
localnews/2004361342 mlk20.html.
University of Washington. Rainier Briefing
Packet, courses.washington.edu/pbafjh/565-
Sp06/field-trip/Rainier Valley Briefing v2.pdf.
Accessed October 24,2010.
• "What Recession?! City's 1st New TOD Project
to Break Ground at Othello Next Month."
Rainier Valley Post. July 24,2009. www.
rainiervalleypost.com/what-recession-citys-
1st-new-tod-project-to-break-ground-at-
othello-next-month.
Site Cleanup as a Catalyst for Revitalization -
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Interview with the Honorable Harold Mitchell,
Executive Director, ReGenesis, Fall 2010.
Interview with Cynthia Peurifoy,
Environmental Justice Program Manager, EPA
Region 4, Fall 2010.
Interview with Nancy Whittle, Community
Liaison for DHEC Environmental Quality
Control, Fall 2010.
Institute for Sustainable Communities.
Leadership for a Changing World, www.
leadershipforchange.org. Accessed September
27,2010.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Integrated Federal Interagency Environmental
Justice Action Agenda. 2000. www.epa.gov/
compliance/ei/resources/publications/
interagency/actionagenda.pdf.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Towards an EnvironmentalJustice Collaborative
Model: Case Studies of Six Partnerships Used
to Address EnvironmentalJustice Issues in
Communities. 2003. www.epa.gov/evaluate/
pdf/ej/towards-ej-collaborative-model-case-
studies-six-partnerships.pdf.
CASE STUDY REFERENCES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Woodward, Douglas P. and Guimaraes, Paulo.
"BMW in South Carolina:The Economic
Impact of a Leading Sustainable Enterprise."
University of South Carolina Moore School of
Business. 2008.
Greening a Small Town Main Street -
Edmonston, Maryland
Interview with Adam Ortiz, Mayor,Town of
Edmonston, Maryland, Fall 2010.
Town of Edmonston, Maryland. Project Green
Street. edmonstonmd.aov/GoinaGreen.html.
Accessed September 25,2010.
• "Green Streets for All." The Dirt. July 8,2010.
dirt.asla.org/2010/07/08/areen-streets-for-all.
Rein, Lisa."Paving an Environmentally Friendly
Path." The Washington Post. July 22,2009.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2009/07/22/AR2009072203470.html.
Thornton, Laura."Edmonston's Green Street
Gets Congressional Red Carpet."Citybizlist
Baltimore. September 30,2010.
Restoring a Cultural Business Corridor - New
Orleans, Louisiana
Interview with Tuan Nguyen, Deputy
Director, Mary Queen of Vietnam Community
Development Corporation, Fall 2010.
Chamlee-Wright, Emily and Henry Storr, Virgil.
"Club Goods and Post-Disaster Community
Return." Rationality and Society. November
2009. docs.virgilhenrvstorr.org/chamlee-
wrightstorrclubgoods.pdf.
"Mary Queen of Viet Nam: Building a Green
Future in the Gulf, from the Ground Up."Green
for All. 2010. www.greenforall.org.
Leong, Karen et al. "Resilient History and the
Rebuilding of a Community: The Vietnamese
American Community in New Orleans East."
Journal of American History. December 2007.
www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/
katrina/Leong.html.
Mary Queen of Viet Nam Community
Development Corporation. Mary Queen
of Viet Nam Community Development
Corporation, www.mqvncdc.org. Accessed
November 4,2010.
Public Broadcasting Service. A Village Called
Versailles, www.pbs.org/independentlens/
village-called-versailles/film.html. Accessed
October 22,2010.
Bringing Transit Service and Affordable
Housing to a Community in Need - Boston,
Massachusetts
Interview with Noah Berger, Program
Manager, Federal Transit Administration,
Fall 2010.
Interview with Gail Latimore, Executive
Director, Codman Square Neighborhood
Development Corporation, Fall 2010.
University of California—Berkeley Center
for Community Innovation at the Institute
of Urban and Regional Development.
"Boston's Newest Smart Growth Corridor: A
Collaborative Vision for the Fairmount/lndigo
Line."2010. communityinnovation.berkeley.
edu/presentations/Dubois Fairmount.pdf.
"Boston's Newest Smart Growth Corridor: A
Collaborative Vision for the Fairmount/lndigo
Line."Smart Growth Online. 2007.
www.smartgrowthonlineaudio.org/
np2007/31 lel.pdf.
Dorchester Bay Economic Development
Corporation. Fairmount Line, www.dbedc.org/
fairmount.html. Accessed October 10,2010.
U.S. Department of Transportation. Fairmount/
Indigo Line, Boston, Massachusetts, fta.dot.
gov/documents/Region1 Final.pdf. Accessed
October 10,2010.
CASE STUDY REFERENCES
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CREATING EQUITABLE, HEALTHY, AND SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES
Equitable Transit-Oriented Development -
Chicago, Illinois
Interview with Mary Nelson, Founding
President, Bethel New Life, Fall 2010.
American Planning Association. Reuse:
Creating Community-Based Brownfield
Redevelopment Strategies, www.planning.org/
research/brownfields/pdf/brownfieldsauide.
pdf. Accessed December 2,2010.
Bethel New Life. Bethel New Life.
bethelnewlife.org. Accessed October 19,2010.
Transformation. Reclaiming Communities
through Vacant Property Revitalization: Bethel
Center Case Study. Accessed October 19,
2010.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
2006 National Award for Smart Growth
Achievement. 2006. www.epa.gov/
smartgrowth/awards/sg awards
publication 2006.htm.
Reconnecting America. Encouraging Transit
Oriented Development: Case Studies that
Work, www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/pdf/
phoenix-sgia-case-studies.pdf. Accessed
October 19, 2010.
Good Jobs First. Making the Connection:
Transit-Oriented Development and Jobs. 2006.
www.goodjobsfirst.org/sites/default/files/
docs/pdf/makingtheconnection.pdf.
Culturally Driven Land Use Planning - Ohkay
Owingeh Pueblo, New Mexico
Interview with Tomasita Duran, Executive
Director, Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority,
San Juan Pueblo, Fall 2010.
Rio Arriba County. RioArriba County
Comprehensive Plan: 2009 Updates and
Amendments. 2009. www.rio-arriba.org/pdf/
ordinance comp plan draft 2009.pdf.
Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority.
Tsigo Bugeh Village, www.
ohkayowingehhousingauthority.org/tbv.html.
Accessed September 25,2010.
U.S. Census Bureau. State and County
Quick Facts Rio Arriba County, New Mexico.
quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/35/35039.
html. Accessed September 25,2010.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
2004 National Award for Smart Growth
Achievement. 2004. www.epa.gov/
smartgrowth/sg awards publication 2004.
htm.
CASE STUDY REFERENCES
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