It is often difficult to discern whether a smart growth project is just another
mega-development or whether it actually contributes to decreased sprawl, lower
emissions, and other quality of life/environmental indicators as it is intended. An Atlanta development is being put to the test by the U.S. EPA and well-known smart growth architects Duany Plater-Zyberk.
Smart Growth advocates offer developers incentives – often in the form of increased
density – to build within city limits, or to leave a significant percentage of the total land in open space. In this case, a 138-acre brownfields site near downtown Atlanta has been cleaned up to make way for 2,000-5,000 residential units, retail and restaurants, a hotel, and office space. A similar development in suburbia would take up 10 times the land.
One might ask, however, why such huge developments are needed and whether they really provide significant benefits. In other studies of similar communities, the EPA found lower nitrogen oxide emissions of 28-42 percent. The Atlanta development is the first time a community rather than a company will be enrolled in EPA’s Project XL program which trades regulatory flexibility for much lower emissions. EPA will employ extensive computer modeling to determine whether fewer emissions are, in fact, produced.
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