EPA Releases NEW Report on Sustainable Communities

EPA has released a report that offers low-income, minority, tribal, and overburdened communities approaches to shape development that responds to their needs and reflects their values. Creating Equitable, Healthy, and Sustainable Communities: Strategies for Advancing Smart Growth, Environmental Justice, and Equitable Development provides a menu of land use and community design strategies community-based organizations, local and regional decision-makers, developers, and others can use to revitalize their communities:

· Facilitate meaningful community engagement in planning and land use decisions
· Promote public health and a clean and safe environment
· Strengthen existing communities
· Provide housing choices
· Provide transportation options
· Improve access to opportunities and daily necessities
· Preserve and build on the features that make a community distinctive

Case studies highlight seven communities that have used these strategies: Edmonston, MD; Chicago, IL; Spartanburg, SC; New Orleans, LA; Ohkay Owingeh, NM; Boston, MA; and Seattle, WA.

The report was developed jointly by the Office of Sustainable Communities and Office of Environmental Justice.

Read the press release.