Smart Growth

“Smart growth” means developing and preserving our land in a way that gives us high-quality neighborhoods for all residents; preserves our built and natural heritage; expands choice and opportunity in housing, jobs, and transportation; and is fair for people of all backgrounds.

To get to smart growth, we need to engage interconnected fields that include land use, housing, environment, transportation, economic development and social equity. And we need a plan.

MetroFuture, the region’s plan for smart growth and preservation, was adopted in December 2008, and is now the guiding vision for MAPC’s work. The plan calls for a return to more historic growth patterns in the region – focused growth in city and town centers, near transit and existing infrastructure. By focusing growth in areas equipped to support it, the region will help preserve both environmental and financial resources that would be lost to sprawling, low-density development.

Smart growth also means making deliberate and inclusive decisions about growth before it happens. Our decisions for the future must ensure that the residents of greater Boston are provided with choices for where to live and work and how to get around, choices that are currently lacking. Producing and implementing coordinated plans around the region will ensure that resources are used wisely and the benefits of growth and preservation are shared fairly.

MAPC actively advances smart growth and the MetroFuture goals in greater Boston through work conducted by each of its departments and with many allies, including the MA Smart Growth Alliance. But the Smart Growth Planning department plays a special role though its programs, initiatives, and projects. Whether through research and application of best practices; technical assistance to cities, towns, corridors, and agencies; participation in the Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization’s deliberations on transportation spending; or recommendations to the state and federal governments on their policies, the Smart Growth Planning Department supports the efforts of local, regional, and state actors to make smart growth happen.

Learn more about the Land Use, Transportation, and Environment divisions of the Smart Growth planning department.

Planning

Comprehensive planning is the cornerstone of modern planning efforts. Through the comprehensive planning process, planners develop long-range strategies that affect land use, economic development, transportation, ecological, and housing decisions.

Our professional planners have the expertise and experience to provide a broad array of comprehensive planning services to constituent communities. These services center upon collecting and analyzing data, facilitating visioning activities, identifying needs, and drafting plans that provide effective solutions to complex problems. Examples of projects completed by MAPC over the past few years include:

• Buildout Analyses for more than 100 cities and towns
• Master Plan and Open Space Plan for the Town of Holbrook
• Canton Downtown Revitalization Plan
• Scituate Greenbush Station analysis
• Milton Village Districts Visioning Sessions and Revitalization Plan
• Conservation Subdivision Design Project: Booklet for Developing a Local Bylaw and Conservation Subdivision Design: Four Case Studies
• Lake Cochituate and Horn Pond Non-point Water Pollution Control studies
• Spy Pond Urban Ecological Study
• 1970-2000 Land Use Change analysis for eastern Massachusetts

Questions?

For additional information, please contact Mark Racicot at 617-451-2770, ext. 2063 or at mracicot@mapc.org