Smart Growth and Urban Development Pattern: A Comparative Study

This article evaluates the efficacy of smart growth instruments in bringing forth compact urban development and neotraditional neighborhood design. The article first sets forth a set of quantitative measures that operationalize five dimensions of compact urban development and neotraditional neighborhood design: street network connectivity, density, land use mix, accessibility, and pedestrian walkability. Using these measures, three study areas are evaluated to determine how well their urban development patterns meet smart growth principles. These study areas are Portland, Oregon; Orange County, Florida; and Montgomery County, Maryland. Findings indicate that all three areas have quite similar development patterns. Findings also suggest that smart growth instruments have altered subdivision design, which is a traditional aspect of physical urban planning. However, smart growth plans have not branched out into non-traditional aspects of planning to encourage mixed land uses and to improve regional accessibility.