Smart Growth

Brief History

The history of smart growth and, more generally, growth management, is relatively young. Numerous milestones define the legislative development of smart growth. During the 1960s and 1970s, several states passed laws related to issues on land use and the environment, including Hawaii (1961), Vermont (1970), California (1971), and Oregon (1973 and 1979). In 1970, Senator Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) introduced the National Land Use Policy Act, which was aimed at establishing a national policy to manage land uses and resources, but the measure failed. Then, during the 1980s and early 1990s still other states enacted laws related more specifically to comprehensive planning, including Florida (1985), New Jersey (1985), Rhode Island (1988), Vermont (1988), Georgia (1989), Washington (1990), and Maryland (1992). It was not until the 1990s that “smart growth legislation” was passed by states, such as Maryland's Smart Growth Areas Act (1997), Tennessee's Growth Policy and Annexation Act (1998), and Pennsylvania's Growing Greener Act [Page 686](1999) and Growing Smarter Act (2000). This legislative history set the precursor for the smart growth movement.

Culminating this history, Vice President Al Gore introduced the Livable Communities Initiatives between 1999 and 2001. To frame the public discourse about smart growth, the Clinton-Gore administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed six Livability Principles. These principles included the following: provide more transportation choices; promote equitable, affordable housing; enhance economic competitiveness; support existing communities; coordinate and leverage federal policies and investment; and value communities and neighborhoods. These federal and state legislative milestones established the policy context of smart growth. The implementation of smart growth policies drew on this historical framework to translate policy into the practice of planning.

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