Creating Great Neighborhoods: Density in Your Community

Projects built using smart growth principles can minimize air and water pollution, facilitate brownfields cleanup and reuse, and preserve open space. A key principle of smart growth is to use land more efficiently by building walkable, compact communities. Building great compact places with good design is not just an abstract theory — it is a practical approach to growth that is being used in diverse places across the country. There is an increasing recognition nationwide that density is an integral component to the creation of neighborhoods that offer convenience, value, and a high quality of life.

Creating Great Neighborhoods: Density in Your Community is a 24-page document produced by the Local Government Commission in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and sponsored by the National Association of Realtors ®. This publication provides readers with an understanding of the connections between smart growth and density; highlights the success of nine community-led efforts to create vibrant compact neighborhoods; and introduces five time tested design principles to ensure that density becomes a community asset and not a liability.

A PDF version is also available:

Creating Great Neighborhoods PDF, 4 MB

Note: The PDF version of this document provides additional in-depth case studies that do not appear in the hard copy edition.

Published: September 2003
Pages: 24
SKU: CGN