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The University of Tennessee | Institute of Agriculture

Tennessee Rural Economic Development




Smart Growth

Tennessee Reports UT Extension Smart Growth
This website serves as the portal to all UT Extension activities related to Smart Growth. It is an excellent resource for those interested in learning more about adopting sustainable development practices in their communities.

Tennessee Reports Energy, Environment and Resources Center
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
This guide is for people who are planning for their communities’ futures, or who would like to be. It is intended especially for local officials, planners, and citizens who together are trying to ensure that their community’s quality of life will be better, not worse, 10 or 20 years from now. This guide will not give them a roadmap to the future, but it will give them ideas about the process of planning for smart, sustainable growth.

National Reports Smart Growth Online
The Smart Growth Network has been providing U.S. and international news summaries of smart growth activity since 1997. State by State News Headlines will be sent to you weekly including news summaries from around the country, information on the latest print, web, audio, and visual resources, and smart growth events.

National ReportsSmart Growth Toolkit
Smart Growth Leadership Institute, through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), developed the tools to help communities untangle the thicket of policies and procedures that get in the way of implementing smart growth strategies.The Toolkit is a set of practical tools to help your community grow smarter. The tools are designed to help communities that are committed to (or are exploring) smart growth. The tools will check if your community's policies and regulations are creating safer, healthier, more livable neighborhoods. The toolkit and the individual tools are available as free downloads at Smart Growth Network

National Reports Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization committed to expanding sustainable building practices. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Developed by USGBC, LEED addresses all building types and emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, and indoor environmental quality.

National Reports Playbook for Green Buildings and Neighborhoods
The Playbook provides local governments with guidance and resources to rapidly advance green buildings, neighborhoods and infrastructure.

Tennessee Reports Quality Growth Toolbox for Tennessee
Cumberland Region Tomorrow
The Quality Growth Toolbox is designed to help you succeed with quality growth strategies and projects in your community. The Toolbox offers practical tools, model projects, and technical resources & support. This toolbox is complemented by an extensive list of online resources arranged by toolbox chapter.

National Reports The Housing + Transportation Affordability Index
October 2008
Developed by Center for Neighborhood Technology and its collaborative partners, the Center for Transit Oriented Development, is an innovative tool that measures the true affordability of housing. Planners, lenders, and most consumers traditionally measure housing affordability as 30 percent or less of income. The Housing + Transportation Affordability Index, in contrast, takes into account not just the cost of housing, but also the intrinsic value of place, as quantified through transportation costs. The project includes neighborhood-level data for 52 different metropolitan areas with results available through an interactive mapping website.

National Reports Smart Growth Network (SGN) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA)
This report describes how, when done well, development can help create more economic opportunities, build great places where people want to live and visit, preserve the qualities people love about their communities, and protect environmental resources.

Tennessee Reports Smart Growth for Tennessee Towns and Counties: A Process Guide
1999
Mary R. English, Jean H. Peretz and Melissa J. Manderschied
Waste Management Research and Education Institute