Recommended Websites
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| | American Planning Association
April 3, 2003
The American Planning Association is a nonprofit public interest and research organization representing 33,000 practicing planners, officials, and citizens involved with urban and rural planning issues. Sixty-five percent of APA's members work for state and local government agencies. These members are involved, on a day-to-day basis, in formulating planning policies and preparing land-use regulations. APA's objective is to encourage planning that will meet the needs of people and society more effectively.
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| | Beyond Gentrification Toolkit: Tools for Equitable Development
October 9, 2001
PolicyLink brings to the Web a set of tools for use in communities faced with gentrification -- as well as communities that have suffered years of disinvestment and neglect. These tools come from the most successful actions in culturally diverse communities to prevent displacement and promote equitable development.
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| | Biodiversity Project, Madison, Wisconsin
October 9, 2002
The Biodiversity Project's mission is to advocate for biodiversity by designing and implementing innovative communication strategies that build and motivate a broad constituency to protect biodiversity.
Tools include fact sheets and publications.
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| | Catanese Center for Urban & Environmental Solutions at FAU
January 24, 2003
Newly created center to study Florida and related urban and environmental problems and solutions
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| | Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy
September 23, 2003
This Brookings Institution research center focuses on cities and their metropolitan areas, and how government policies, private sector actions and regional trends affect them.
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| | Collins Center for Public Policy
January 24, 2003
Based in Florida, but includes research from around the nation; issues monthly listserv
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| | Community Planning Web Site
January 26, 2004
Starting point for residents to become involved with professionals in shaping their local environment. Accessible how-to-do-it best practice information of international scope and relevance.
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| | Conservation Economy
December 18, 2003
On this site, 57 patterns provide a framework for an ecologically restorative, socially just, and reliably prosperous society. They are adaptable to local ecosystems and cultures, yet universal in their applicability. Together they form what the authors call a Conservation Economy.
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| | Cyburbia
September 23, 2003
This planning resource center includes a comprehensive directory of Internet resources relevant to the built environment.
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| | Dynamics of Urban Change: A Collection of Resources
January 26, 2004
Provides urban practioners a wide range of experience, reflections and innovations emphasizing the dynamic nature of urban change and millenium goals.
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| | Earth Portal
July 6, 2004
Comprehensive resource for environmental information with access to timely, objective, science-based intelligence on all aspects of the environment.
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| | ecocitycleveland.org
April 19, 2002
Online home for designing cities in balance with nature.
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| | Fannie Mae Foundation's KnowledgePlex
November 8, 2001
The Fannie Mae Foundation launches an informational Web site called KnowledgePlex. Aimed at media, academia and planners and developers, the site features a library of current information including articles, case studies, best practices and journals; housing news from 300 sources; interactive communities including chatrooms; emerging issues in affordable housing and community development; and a directory of sources for additional information.
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| | Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities
January 24, 2003
Coalition of funders whose aim is sensible development
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| | Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
June 12, 2002
This site includes features about arts and environmental
issues, how to work with the foundation and detailed information about 185 grants.
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| | Great American Station Foundation
January 3, 2002
A Web site to provide access to resources that promote transit-oriented development. The project is intended to bring transit-oriented development to scale nationally as an accepted form of development, while capturing the equity, environmental and quality of life benefits for families and communities.
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| | Green Building Guidelines
August 8, 2003
"GSB:Meeting the Demand for Low-energy, Resouce-efficient Homes" and the related workshop series are designed for home builders and home buyers-to-be.
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| | ICMA Land-Use Controls
January 26, 2004
Electronic library of searchable documents, materials, such as case stuides, reports, fact sheets, policies and guides; news and events related to Land-Use Controls; information on Land-Use controls-related conference and frequently asked questions of LUCs.
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| | Illinois Association of Environmental Professionals
June 12, 2002
IAEP promotes awareness of environmental issues impacting the private and public sectors and advocates for including environmental concerns in planning and decision-making activities.
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| | Illinois Association of Regional Councils (ILARC)
August 15, 2002
The Illinois Association of Regional Councils new Web site includes general information about ILARC and Illinois RPCs, links to affiliated agencies, contact information for each member RPC. The site also includes a map designating the various coverage areas of each RPC in Illinois. Just click on the map and you'll be connected to the RPC of your choice.
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| | Illinois Atlas
February 4, 2004
Northern Illinois University map information
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| | Illinois Chapter American Planning Association
October 9, 2001
The Illinois Chapter of the American Planning Association website includes listings of board and committee members, a state section map, Chapter reports, news, planning awards, an event calendar, professional development information, job postings, a forum and more. To celebrate the Chapter's one-year online anniversary, it now offers a digital version of Illinois Planning News, available to download.
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| | Illinois Department of Natural Resources
September 6, 2001
This site is for individuals and organizations interested in studying how growth affects their communities’ quality of life, and protecting Illinois' natural and cultural resources potentially impacted by urban growth. The site includes reports conducted by and for the Department on various topics related to urban growth. The site also includes information on DNR projects related to urban growth and natural resource protection, and tools available to landowners and communities for protecting natural resources.
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| | Illinois Issues magazine
October 9, 2001
Illinois Issues covers statewide issues of all stripes, from politics to environment, sensible growth to education funding.
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| | Interfaith Open Communities
May 18, 2004
Housing opportunities in the city and suburbs
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| | Links for Planners
September 23, 2003
Directory of links set up for Cornell University's planning students.
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| | Local Government Commission
November 26, 2003
The Local Government Commission (LGC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization that provides inspiration, technical assistance, and networking to local elected officials and other dedicated community leaders who are working to create healthy, walkable, and resource-efficient communities. The Local Government Commission developed useful fact sheets for communities, planners, and citizens.
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| | Metropolitan Planning Council
January 1, 2001
The Metropolitan Planning Council, one of the co-chairs of the Campaign for Sensible Growth, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group of business and civic leaders committed to serving the public interest through the promotion and implementation of sensible planning and development policies necessary for a world-class Chicago region. MPC's interactive Web site features their research and reports, as well as articles on issues from around the region.
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| | New Urbanism
September 23, 2003
New Urbanism is the most influential planning movement this century. It is the revival of the lost art of placemaking and is essentially a reordering of the built environment into the form of complete towns.
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| | Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission
September 13, 2001
NIPC - the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission - is the official comprehensive planning agency for the six-county Chicago metropolitan area. The Commission was created by the Illinois General Assembly in 1957 and assigned three broad responsibilities: to conduct research required for planning for the region, to prepare comprehensive plans and policies to guide the development of the region, and to advise and assist local governments.
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| | Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) 2030 Population Forecasts
March 24, 2004
Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) 2030 Forecasts of Population, Households and Employment by Political Township within Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will counties
County (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will)
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| | Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) detailed Census 2000 demographic profiles
March 24, 2004
Demographic profiles for the six-county Chicago metropolitan region
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| | PLANetizen
September 23, 2003
Urban planning and development news, jobs and events. PLANetizen is a public interest information exchange for the urban planning and developing community.
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| | Plannersweb
September 23, 2003
This Planning Commissioners Journal site has resources for planning commissions and zoning boards. It includes material on zoning, ordinances, land use, comprehensive plans, master plans, subdivision regulation, transportation, housing, urban design, takings-property rights, and impacts of information technology.
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| | PolicyLink Database of Tools for Equitable Development
April 3, 2003
Designed to help community leaders find information about strategies, workshops, law, technologies, regulatory apporaches and other tools proven to work in achieving equitable development solutions.
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| | PoliticsNationwide.com
March 1, 2004
Network of Web site able to find elected officials, dandidates, persons, groups, interests, assocations involved in politics, public policy agovernment through U.S.
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| | Quality Places, MARC.org
August 14, 2002
The program is to create quality designs within and around the Kansas City region. Creating Quality Places is a program of the Mid-America Regional Council and is supported in part by grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Highway Administration.
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| | Raleigh, N.C. Urban Design Guidelines
December 13, 2001
The City of Raleigh, NC has created an extensive web site related to their urban design guidelines and similar efforts.
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| | Regional Workbench Consortium
August 8, 2003
Collaborative network of university and community partners dedicated to enabling sustainable regionwide development. Planning and decision-support tools including GIS, online interactive mapping and 3D visualization.
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| | Smart Growth America
March 13, 2003
Website of the national coalition that promotes smart growth on local, state, national level.
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| | Smart Growth America's Tools for Advocates
March 18, 2003
Downloadable presentation, repsonses to critics, image library
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| | Smart Growth Network
September 23, 2003
The Network formed in resonse to increasing community concerns about the need for new ways to grow that boost the economy, protect the environment, and enhance community vitality.
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| | Surface Transportation Policy Project
October 29, 2002
Subscribe to Transfer, an electronic newsletter about sustainable transportation strategies and how they related to smart growth.
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| | Sustainable Development
September 23, 2003
This U.S. Department of Energy site offers a host of useful information help visitors understand the concept of sustainable development. Find overview articles, slide shows, links, recommended books and videos and educational materials that can help communities in their sustainable development efforts.
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| | Tech Metro Institute
December 15, 2003
The Tech Metro Institute launched a Web Site for Better Development in 2001 to study demographics, the environment, technology, design, transportation and governance, and expand urban and metropolitan affairs knowledge and educate the public on key community issues.
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| | The Ecological Planning and Design Directory
August 29, 2005
Resources for developers, local officials, stakeholders on issues of biodiversity, conservation design, sustainable development, natural landscaping and water resources.
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| | Town Building Institute
February 4, 2004
A not-for-profit committed to building towns with highest quality of life. A vision based on the intersection of Smart Growth, knowledge, economy and arts & entertainment illustrated. Good visual summaries
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| | Transportation Research Information Services
March 18, 2003
Database with close to half a million records of references to books, technical reports, conference proceedings, journal articles and ongoing research studies in the field of transportation.
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| | Tryon Farm Institute
January 29, 2003
Discussions of sustainable development, Tryon Farm sustainable development in Michigan City, Indiana. Seeks volunteer input.
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| | U.S. Green Building Council Chicago Chapter
February 3, 2003
The City of Chicago is now enforcing a new Energy Code, its first. In parallel to city policy, the academic community is supplying the market with Future MBAs whose area of concentration is “Green” through the Center for Sustainable Enterprise, Stuart Graduate School of Business at IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology – Chicago). Within this environment of interest, the USGBC-Chicago Chapter was formed as a way to bring together individual elements in pursuit of sustainability and to further the goals of the USGBC.
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| | U.S. Surface Transportation law, TEA-3
March 18, 2003
follow the reauthorizatioin of the Surface Transportation Law, TEA-3. Created by Surface Transportation Policy Project
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| | Vermont Forum on Sprawl
January 3, 2002
An online newsletter, the Vermont Forum on Sprawl, includes updates on local, state and national sprawl-related news.
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| | Webitects.com
December 31, 2000
Creators of the Campaign for Sensible Growth Web site.
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Reports/Articles on the Web
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| | American Lung Association State of the Air 2002 Report
May 1, 2002
This year's report found that more than 142 million
Americans live in areas where the air they breathe
puts them at risk. That means 75 percent of Americans who
live in areas with ozone monitors are breathing bad
air! Find out how your county, and counties across the
nation, were rated for ozone air pollution.
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| | Growing Smart in North Carolina
August 15, 2001
A special issue of Popular Government, a magazine from the Institute of Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is titled Growing Smart in North Carolina. Articles that are of interest include:
Smart Growth around the Nation
A Smart Growth Toolbox for Local Governments
The Environmental Consequences of Growth
Growing Smart about Transportation
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| | Improving Air Quality Through Land Use Activities
August 15, 2001
A set of guidelines produced by the US EPA, can help state and local governments account for the benefits of smart growth practices in State Implementation Plans. The guide supports and recognizes such land-use activities as infill development, brownfield redevelopment, mixed-use development, and development oriented toward public transit projects. It proposes options that areas with air quality problems can use to account for the benefits from local land use activities.
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| | Lost in the Balance: How State Policies Affect the Fiscal Health of Cities
August 15, 2001
A new Brookings Report, Lost in the Balance: How State Policies Affect the Fiscal Health of Cities examines central city fiscal distress and city-suburban fiscal disparities in California, New York, and Wisconsin, and shows that state aid and tax policies may actually be exacerbating, rather than improving, urban fiscal conditions. This suggests that further devolution of federal programs to states, like welfare reform, may worsen cities' fiscal problems.
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| | National Geographic Magazine
August 15, 2001
In July's issue of National Geographic, writer John Mitchell and photographer Sarah Leen depict life in American suburbs and the harm of sprawl with vivid stories and photographs. As a companion to the magazine the National Geographic Web site features "More to Explore" a place where the magazine research team shares some of its best sources and other information.
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| | State of Biodiversity of the States, Earth Day 2002
May 1, 2002
This report on the state of biodversity in the U.S. was
released by NatureServe. It includes state-by-state details of biological wealth and risk. Executive summary and link to the full report www.natureserve.org/publications/biodiversity/summary.htm
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| | Stop Sprawl: New Research on Population, Suburban Sprawl and Smart Growth
August 15, 2001
A new report released by the Sierra Club, shows that though population growth is rarely its sole cause, it often contributes in a major way to sprawl. This research, conducted by Professor Rolf Pendall of Cornell University also claims that the importance of population growth as a driver of sprawl varies across the United States: To download the whitepaper please visit
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| | Transportation and Land Development (Second Edition)
March 13, 2003
Basic reference for practicing transportation and plannning professionals. Especially valuable to engineers, urban planners responsible for development, administrators of local land development codes, consulting engineers, planners, architects, loan officers and state department of transportation employees. Publication available though Institute for Transportation Engineers, 202-289-0222
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| | Using the Market to Curb Sprawl
August 15, 2001
To help policymakers achieve a growing public mandate to curb sprawl, Redefining Progress's report, "Policy Options for Reducing Sprawl: A Critical Overview," presents three recent market-based policy innovations. These policies - location-efficient mortgages (LEMs), space-based impact fees, and split-rate property taxes - harness the market's power to encourage denser development close to existing infrastructure.
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