New Partners for Smart Growth Conference - A Review

Friday, February 11, 2011

Despite early February blizzards across the northern U.S. that cancelled flights and upended travel plans, over 1,300 people came to Charlotte last week for the 10th annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference.  About 1,000 of them came from outside the Carolinas, including a dozen or so from outside the U.S.  They flocked to the 110 concurrent sessions and twelve local tours (eleven of which were sold out) to learn from experts and each other about building sustainable communities – communities that are safe, healthy, and livable. 

This year’s conference placed increased emphasis on Environmental and Social Justice, with both a conference track dedicated to “Equitable Development” and incorporation of those issues into many of the conference’s other sessions.  Catchy buzz words and intriguing topic names abounded:  “Equity Toolkit”, “Just and Smart Growth”, “Ports, Goods Movement, and Environmental Justice”, “Climate Justice”, “Inclusive Engagement”, and “Degrees of Disadvantage”.  Degrees of Disadvantage (“DoD”) is the term coined by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for the index they use to compare individual census tracts’ concentration of transportation-disadvantaged populations with the regional average.  The index includes eight such disadvantaged populations:  the elderly (75+), the physically-disabled, car-less households, low-income households, female head-of-households with children, limited English-proficiency persons, Hispanic/Latino persons, and non-Hispanic minorities.  The Commission uses DoD maps to evaluate proposed transportation projects’ contribution to improving mobility and transportation access for these populations.

Another thread running through many sessions was quantifiable measures.  In addition to the DoD index, conference participants were exposed to Sustainable Return on Investment analysis for capital investment projects, modeling of local impacts of temperature and precipitation pattern changes for climate change adaptation planning, neighborhood sustainability indicators for inclusion in MLS listings, and metrics for measuring realized Transit-Oriented Development benefits, among others.  Southern California Association of Governments, akin to our regional Councils of Governments, has quantified the relationship between specific policy changes, and the resulting degree of increase or decrease in vehicle miles traveled (“VMT”s).  For every one percentage point increase in residential density, for example, they have estimated a corresponding 0.05 to 0.12 percent decrease in VMTs.

Talk of energy cost savings and greenhouse gas reduction was everywhere, from LEED and other green building approaches, to energy performance audits conducted by volunteer retired engineers.  For example, volunteer and retired engineers with Waste Reduction Partners in Asheville found $4,000/yr savings at one high school just from turning vending machine lights off (quote of the conference, “The kids seem quite able to find the drink machines without the help of back-lit front panels”).

For the conference-goers, at least, it seems that smart growth and sustainable communities are no longer novel theories, but have moved into the mainstream of accepted “best practice”.  The dialogue is not so much about the merits of the ideas, as about how to more effectively implement them, refine their techniques, and evaluate their impacts.

-- Vicki Bott