By Eric Cova
Smart Growth America is proud to announce the launch of the Center for Zoning Solutions (CZS), our initiative dedicated to promoting and implementing zoning reform that fosters healthier, more vibrant communities. CZS will build upon Smart Growth America’s 25 years of experience supporting communities to create people-oriented places with diverse housing and transportation options, including through form-based codes.
“Smart Growth America’s work takes an interdisciplinary approach to tackle some of the biggest challenges to revitalizing communities, particularly communities that have been historically disadvantaged. This requires paying close attention to not only what we build but also where we build,” said Calvin Gladney, President and CEO of Smart Growth America. “The Center for Zoning Solutions will pioneer innovative regulatory solutions and work alongside communities to cut through the red tape to help create healthy, prosperous, and resilient places.”
The Center for Zoning Solutions’ scope will include research and reports, federal and state-level advocacy efforts, and direct support, offering tools that practitioners, community advocates, elected officials, and residents can utilize to implement inclusive and equitable land use policies that support people to live, work, and thrive, no matter where they call home.
“I am so excited to launch the Center for Zoning Solutions,” said Toccarra Nicole Thomas, Director of Land Use and Development at Smart Growth America. “For too many years, zoning regulations have prevented our neighborhoods from achieving their potential. CZS will equip communities with the tools, training, and research to create more housing while simultaneously advancing inclusive, equitable, and fiscally sound land use policies.”
The Center for Zoning Solutions has identified three fundamental principles to guide its work:
Codes for today’s communities
Replace inefficient and exclusionary zoning regulations to unlock economic, social, and health benefits for all communities.
More housing in the right places
Implement effective policies to encourage mixed-use development and diverse housing options to create thriving, well-connected places.
Supporting a people-centered movement
Provide residents, advocates, and decision-makers with training, direct support, and accessible tools to advance zoning codes that center community needs.
Exclusionary zoning and land use policies have harmed communities for over a hundred years, resulting in widespread residential segregation, worsening health and economic outcomes, and limited housing development. CZS will help reverse these effects by supporting zoning policies that promote vibrant, inclusive, and connected communities where everyone can live, work, and thrive.
The Center for Zoning Solutions will work in tandem with Smart Growth America’s other programs, including Transportation for America, the National Complete Streets Coalition, and LOCUS, our coalition of real estate developers and investors, to support our vision of a country where all people—no matter where they live—can enjoy living in a place that is healthy, prosperous, and resilient.
The Center for Zoning Solutions is supported in part by the Barr Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
For more information about the Center for Zoning Solutions and Smart Growth America, please visit www.smartgrowthamerica.org/zoning.
Smart Growth America helps create healthy, prosperous, and resilient places to live for all people through research, advocacy, and direct community support. Our work spans housing and land use, transportation, and economic development to find solutions to communities’ most pressing needs. We work with elected officials at all levels, real estate developers, chambers of commerce, transportation and urban planning professionals, and residents to improve everyday life for people across the country through better development.
Eric Cova is Director of Communications for Smart Growth America.