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Case Study: Smart Growth Twin CitiesThe Smart Growth Twin Cities Project was designed to demonstrate the benefits of smart growth. It used innovative public involvement methods that encouraged metro area residents to help plan future development through citizens forums, workshops, and visual preference surveys. These outreach efforts received funding support from the McKnight Foundation. The project addressed both region-wide and local planning. At the region-wide level, comprehensive plans of local communities were evaluated to determine how current and planned growth meets the region's goals as outlined in the Regional Blueprint. Alternative land use models and transportation strategies for the region were developed through public workshops, analyzed, and presented to the public and the Council for consideration. At the community level, six "opportunity site" communities modeled "best smart growth practices". These communities were: Brooklyn Center, Chaska, Hillcrest Village (Maplewood/St. Paul), Harriet Island District del Sol (St. Paul), Ramsey, and St. Anthony. Through a series of public workshops with local stakeholders to develop options and identify a preferred option, detailed site plans, designs and implementation strategies for each site were developed based on local preferences. The goal is for each opportunity site was to create sufficiently detailed community-based vision and direction so that the site plans can be handed to a developer to begin work immediately. The three-year project took place from Summer 2000 through the end of 2002. Local planners worked closely with the nationally recognized urban planning and design firm Calthorpe Associates. Planning at both the regional and local level focused on the following smart growth principles: - Plan for compact and mixed land use patterns that are sensitive to the environment and that offer greater transportation choices - Design human scale communities with people's needs and preferences foremost in mind - Create community-based plans and designs using innovative public involvement methods. For more information, see http://www.calthorpe.com/Project%20Sheets/SGTC.pdf
For a 102-page research paper produced by the EPA on the environmental benefits of smart growth, titled "Our Built and Natural Environments, A Technical Review of the Interactions between Land Use, Transportation, and Environmental Quality," see http://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/topics/eb.htm
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