Smart Growth: An Effective, Beneficial Method of Urban Planning
A Great Development Option for All Cities
Cities and communities have developed naturally over time. An increased rate of population has called for an increased demand for homes, and has turned many beautiful areas of land into crowded cities. There are many methods that can help strategically plan cities in order to avoid destroying nature. These methods can also save money, time, and the environment in the long run. One method of development is called smart growth. Smart growth is a transportation and urban planning theory that avoids urban sprawl by concentrating growth in the center of cities instead of throughout cities.
The theory of smart growth promotes walkable compact use of land. Smart growth also encourages increases in transit, housing, and employment options. It also promotes the preservation of natural and cultural resources. Mixed-use development is a tool of smart growth. Mixed-use development is when more than one type of use in a building or group of buildings. This means there is a combination of uses of these buildings such as residential, commercial, office, and institutional. Concentrating dev elopement on mass transportation routes is another tool of smart growth. Preserving existing open space, buying new open space, and limiting building permits are all tools of smart growth. These strategies are beneficial to not only people but the environment as well, and smart growth should be implemented everywhere that development exists.
Some aspects of smart growth are already being employed in my town. In my home town mixed- use development already exists. In the commercialized area of my town there are still homes, and offices, and this illustrates the use of mixed-use development. In my town most of the developments are centered on main transportation routes. For the most part, all the new stores opening up are along the highway that runs through my town, but it seems like houses are going up everywhere. Forests that I remember playing in as a kid are being chopped down, and the beauty of nature all around me is being destroyed. The preservation of existing open spaces, and the buying of new open spaces would be beneficial to my town because a lot of forests and fields are being turned into homes and stores. The intense amount of growth happening in my area could be curbed by limiting building permits as well. Smart growth is a good method of development that would benefit the community, nature, and the people living in the community.
