A Common-Sense Approach to the Future Development of Northeast Ohio Communities
Presented by the Smart Growth Education Foundation
A Nice Place to Live…Now and in the Future.
Northeast Ohio is a great place for citizens to live, work and raise a family. During the past two decades, the region has gone through a transformation from being less of a heavy manufacturing center and more of a services and technology center. With better economic conditions in our region and more jobs located in the suburbs, there has been notable migration of population to outlying suburbs and counties.
According to census projections, Cuyahoga County and the six surrounding counties are expected to add 75,000 households in the next 20 years. To plan for growth into the next century, the Smart Growth Education Foundation has been formed by area home-builder groups and related industries in northeast Ohio to develop strategies and plans for growing smart in the region and to ensure that this will always be a great place to live.
From No Growth
to Growth
to Smart Growth
After a period of no growth during the 1970s and early ’80s, when jobs and families were leaving the area, northeast Ohio is starting to grow and prosper over the last decade. With a growing economy, low interest rates and low unemployment, more citizens are staying here and more people are moving into the area. Rapid growth has brought a different set of problems to the region. Home builders in the region are responding by supporting what is known as “Smart Growth.”
What is Smart Growth?
In its broadest sense, smart growth means meeting the housing demand in smarter ways by planning for and building to higher densities, preserving meaningful open spaces and protecting environmentally sensitive areas. It addresses questions of how best to plan for and manage growth; when and where new residential areas, commercial development, schools and major highways should be built and located; and how to pay for the infrastructure required to serve a growing region.
Smart growth also means understanding that suburban job growth and the strong desire to live in single-family homes will continue to encourage growth in suburbia. Taking consumer preferences into account is an important part of any comprehensive growth plan.