Growth Management and Green Infrastructure

Growth Management...

...is a term that encompasses a wide range of tools and methods to control the rate and the physical pattern of urban growth. Examples of growth management tools include:

1. Requirements that new development be permitted only as areas are able to meet certain infrastructure development standards (sometimes called “concurrency”)
2. Impact fees to require new development to “pay its way” for increased demand for public facilities
3. The “transfer of development rights” from one land area to another in order to contain the physical area covered by new urban development. The following website provides a good overview of growth management tools, including aspects such as affordable housing, which sometimes gets overlooked in the discussion of this topic: http://landuse.osu.edu/Sustainable/

An example of multiple approaches to growth management for a major metropolitan area can be found at:
http://www.bayareavision.org/

Green Infrastructure...

...refers to the network of protected open spaces that are necessary to sustain both urban communities and the natural environment. This may include:

1. Public parks
2. Wildlife and forest reserves
3. Water recharge areas, and other such natural resources
   

The website at http://www.greeninfrastructure.net is a good clearinghouse on the topic of “green infrastructure”, containing some useful summaries and links.