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Students should discuss three of the 10 principles of smart growth:
1) Mixed land uses; providing for easy access within walking distance of homes, businesses, schools, and shopping
2) Compact building design; building up rather than out
3) Ranges of housing choices; large and small family units available at reasonable cost
4) Walkable neighborhoods to improve health by increasing activity levels
5) Distinctive communities with a strong sense of place; minimize grass lawns on mountaintops and in deserts, don't bring tropical plants to the northern United States, and enjoy what is distinctive about where you live
6) Preservation of open spaces, farmlands, and critical environmental areas, all needed to provide resources, goods and services, and to absorb and neutralize the wastes produced by cities
7) Development and strengthening of existing communities; spending money to maintain and improve what is present now, rather than focusing on new growth and allowing current communities to languish and decline
8) Varied transportation choices; having flexible, low-cost, timely bus service, light rail, subways, or other systems to discourage automobile traffic and improve congestion, lowering pollution
9) Predictable, fair, cost-effective development decisions, with development fees and taxes for trucks, factories, and other sources that create wastes and damage resources. Don't spend money on new resources without recycling and maintaining what is already available
10) Encouraging community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions; don't leave decisions to business people, whose major consideration may be short-term profits, or to politicians, who may not consider all their constituents. All voters need to be informed and to provide input to their regulatory bodies when new decisions are being made.
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