The Ten Principles of Smart Growth In 1996, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency joined with several non-profit and government organizations to form the Smart Growth Network (SGN). The Network was formed in response to increasing community concerns about the need for new ways to grow that boost the economy, protect the environment, and enhance community vitality.

The Network's partners include environmental groups, historic preservation organizations, professional organizations, developers, real estate interests; local and state government entities.

The Smart Growth Network offers many resources online at http://www.smartgrowth.org and offers these Ten Principles of Smart Growth:

1. Mix Land Uses -- Smart growth supports the integration of mixed land uses into communities as a critical component of achieving better places to live.

2. Take Advantage of Compact Building Design -- Smart growth provides a means for communities to incorporate more compact building design as an alternative to conventional, land consumptive development.

3. Create a Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices -- Providing quality housing for people of all income levels is an integral component of any smart growth strategy.

4. Create Walkable Neighborhoods -- Walkable communities are desirable places to live, work, learn, worship and play, and therefore a key component of smart growth.

5. Foster Distinctive, Attractive Places with a Strong Sense of Place -- Smart growth encourages communities to craft a vision and set standards for development and construction which respond to community values of architectural beauty and distinctiveness, as well as expanded choices in housing and transportation.

6. Preserve Open Space, Farmland, Natural Beauty and Critical Environmental Areas -- Open space preservation supports smart growth goals by bolstering local economies, preserving critical environmental areas, improving our communities‘ quality of life, and guiding new growth into existing communities

7. Strengthen and Direct Development Towards Existing Communities -- Smart growth directs development towards existing communities already served by infrastructure, seeking to utilize the resources that existing neighborhoods offer and conserve open space and irreplaceable natural resources on the urban fringe.

8. Provide a Variety of Transportation Choices -- Providing people with more choices in housing, shopping, communities, and transportation is a key aim of smart growth.

9. Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair and Cost Effective -- For a community to be successful in implementing smart growth, it must be embraced by the private sector.

10. Encourage Community and Stakeholder Collaboration -- Growth can create great places to live, work and play if it responds to a community’s own sense of how and where it wants to grow.