2008 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement Booklet
Featured Resource
From 2002 to 2015, EPA presented the National Award for Smart Growth Achievement to recognize and support communities that used innovative policies and strategies to strengthen their economies, provide housing and transportation choices, develop in ways that bring benefits to a wide range of residents, and protect the environment.
Awards were given in the following categories in 2008:
- Overall Excellence in Smart Growth: Downtown Silver Spring Redevelopment Project, Silver Spring Regional Center in Silver Spring, Maryland
- Policies and Regulations: Livable Centers Initiative, Atlanta Regional Commission in the Metropolitan Atlanta Region, Georgia
- Built Projects: Egleston Crossing, Urban Edge Housing Corporation in Roxbury, Massachusetts
- Equitable Development: Mission Creek Senior Community, Mercy Housing California and San Francisco Housing Authority in San Francisco, California
Overall Excellence in Smart Growth: Downtown Silver Spring Redevelopment Project, Silver Spring Regional Center in Silver Spring, Maryland
This Smart Growth Award recognized the Downtown Silver Spring Redevelopment Project.
A strong community vision, public investments, partnerships with the private sector, a great location, and transportation choices worked together to create this model for inner-ring suburban renaissance.
In practice, some street sections are closed to auto traffic occasionally to allow popular pedestrian-oriented activities, such as the weekly farmers market (pictured right).
Policies and Regulations: Livable Centers Initiative, Atlanta Regional Commission in the Metropolitan Atlanta Region, Georgia
This Smart Growth Award recognized the Livable Centers Initiative (LCI), which was created to help the Atlanta region meet air-quality goals.
The Livable Centers Initiative used federal transportation funds to help communities plan transportation improvements in concert with revitalization of existing centers and corridors.
As a result of an LCI-funded study, the city of Duluth (pictured right) revitalized its downtown by adding homes and commercial space and creating a new town green.
For an update on this project, see the “How Smart Growth Protects the Environment” section of the 2009 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement booklet.
Built Projects: Egleston Crossing, Urban Edge Housing Corporation in Roxbury, Massachusetts
This Smart Growth Award recognized Egleston Crossing, which helped renew a neglected corridor in Boston's Roxbury and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods.
The once-contaminated auto-body shop was redeveloped into a commercial and residential anchor for the neighborhood. In addition to featuring two new buildings that used green building techniques, it also provided much-needed affordable housing and new amenities.
Equitable Development: Mission Creek Senior Community, Mercy Housing California and San Francisco Housing Authority in San Francisco, California
This Smart Growth Award recognized the Mission Creek Senior Community. This project transformed a brownfield into an attractive, mixed-use, low-income senior community. Built along a former industrial channel, the Mission Creek Senior Community combines affordable housing options for seniors with the benefits of urban living.
This development is a classic example of successful collaboration between nonprofit organizations, local government agencies, for-profit entities, and citizens.