Smart, sustainable coastal growth creates close-knit communities that benefit from their natural surroundings. By discouraging sprawl and producing compact, walkable neighborhoods, cities can meet the growing desire of homeowners and businesses to invest in both a property and its place in the environment. Coastal areas will find solutions in this Toolbox to achieve a unique sense of community; expand the range of transportation, employment, and housing choices; equitably distribute the costs and benefits of development; preserve and enhance natural and cultural resources; and increase resiliency to natural hazards.
- Community Character
- Fix It First
- Mixed-Use Districts
- Housing & Neighborhoods
- Resources Index
- Transportation Choices
- Complete Streets
- Tackling Traffic
- Bicycle & Pedestrian Paths
- Alternative Parking
- Resources Index
- Resiliency & Natural Hazards
- Evaluating Your Assets
- Protecting People & Places
- Structural Solutions
- Resources Index
- Policy in Practice
- Development Review
- Public Participation
- Quality Control
- Resources Index
- Growing Green
- Green Streets
- Conserve & Preserve
- Stormwater Management
- Waterfront Development
- Resources Index
Click on items in the illustration or on topics below to learn more | Download Toolbox for Smart Growth & Sustainability for the Mississippi Gulf Coast
- Community Character
- Community character is the subtle mix of history, architecture, culture and geography that guides residents' choices of where to live. In coastal areas, compact development is more resilient to natural hazards. Ongoing investment in the character of today's communities creates vibrant places where people want to be.
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- Transportation Choices
- Transportation planning has traditionally focused on the needs of drivers. The changing makeup of America's population means that it is increasingly important to consider other needs. Communities that provide their citizens with a range of transportation options expand their opportunities for economic development for the future.
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- Resiliency & Natural Hazards
- Coastal communities should plan for greater "resilience" or the ability to bend without breaking in the face of natural disaster and environmental change. There are numerous steps communities can take to increase resiliency.
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- Policy in Practice
- Growing a smart community takes more than just good ideas and initiatives that affect individual neighborhoods. It requires some changes in the way things are done, from the implementation of land use regulations to the way that citizens participate in the development process.
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- Growing Green
- In a green community, citizens and public officials protect the environment by directing growth. Green growth makes a city more attractive to its residents in a number of ways and can provide financial and environmental benefits by making a community more attractive, reclaiming its natural heritage, and reducing the impacts of growth on the natural environment.
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