Definitions

"Smart growth" is defined in this report as an approach to economic growth that seeks to create urban areas that are as resource-efficient and sustainable as possible. In the context of this report "sustainable" means that environmental assets (e.g. energy resources, land, water, air, biodiversity, etc.) are managed strategically for use by current and future generations to achieve sustainable development. Environmental management includes addressing the threat of global climate change resulting from greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Smart growth transport and urban development technologies and services, tethered to supporting policies and practices, help achieve sustainable development by ensuring that demands for urban growth and mobility are met while a community’s environmental assets are strategically managed.

A smart growth project is an initiative that uses technology and/or technical services to improve the use and management of transport and urban development-related energy resources, land and infrastructure for the benefit of the community. An example of a technology project is to replace standard transport planning models with more comprehensive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software to enhance the evaluation of environmental impact, infrastructure needs analysis, urban design and investment planning. An example of a service is to apply transit-oriented design principles in a new commercial development or to produce a plan that streamlines the operations and maintenance of a publicly-owned bus fleet.

The smart growth industry is diverse and includes, but is not limited to, innovative companies and firms that manufacture, distribute or market the following products and provide the following services for environmentally sustainable transport and urban development. Together this mix of products and services may create new chains of value which are the foundation of establishing new businesses.

Technology Products

Technical Services

Back to Index

Prepared by the International Institute for Energy Conservation (IIEC)
September 1999

Support for this document was provided by the Export Council for Energy Efficiency (ECEE) and the US Department of Energy (award DE-FC41-94R110679). This support does not constitute an endorsement by the US Department of Energy of the views expressed in the article.

Updated: 03/29/02