Governors' Institute on Community Design
Governors increasingly understand that land use and development patterns impact the quality of life, economic competitiveness and environmental quality of their states. For them, the challenge is finding tools and strategies that can make a difference in how regions and localities in their state grow. The Governors Institute on Community Design will allow leaders to share innovations; deliberate tough, big picture questions; and develop cost effective solutions appropriate for their states.
The institute is led by two former governors — Christine Todd Whitman (New Jersey; also a former EPA Administrator) and Parris Glendening (Maryland) — with a long history of promoting smart growth. The Institute is funded by US EPA, the National Endowment for the Arts, and jointly administered by the Smart Growth Leadership Institute and the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University of Maryland.
We are providing financial and technical support to the Governors Institute because air quality, water quality and water supply, brownfield redevelopment, wetlands and wildlife habitat protection, water infrastructure — all are linked in some way to how and where we grow. State policies have a profound impact on growth patterns, community design, and, ultimately, environmental quality. Decisions about how and where to grow are the prerogative of states and localities. EPA works with states and communities to help them better understand how growth affects their environment and human health, and provide tools for them to better plan for and manage growth. Through the Governors Institute we are supporting states so that they can enjoy the benefits of economic growth with the least impact on their natural resources.
The National Endowment for the Arts is dedicated to supporting excellence in regional and community design. Through the Mayors Institute on City Design and Your Town: Designing its Future, the NEA has taught municipal and county elected leadership the relationship between design of the built environment and its impact on quality of life and place since 1986. With the Governors Institute, the NEA hopes to inspire state leaders to capitalize on their roles as chief state designers and identify innovative design approaches that improve the way people live in cities, suburbs, and countryside.
Upon request from a governor, the institute conducts a workshop that pairs the governor and his or her cabinet with top planning experts to identify strategies that spur smarter development — development that improves communities, the economy, public health, and the environment. Governors also receive ongoing advice on technical issues.
The institute conducts three to four workshops per year. Some examples include:
- Virginia: After the August 2006 Governors' Institute workshop, Governor Tim Kaine issued Executive Order 69 in June 2008, establishing the Sub-Cabinet on Community Investment. Headed by the Secretary of Natural Resources, the sub-cabinet is tasked with promoting smart, sustainable growth by ensuring that state funds are invested in projects that reduce suburban sprawl and that state incentives align with growth goals.
- Arizona: After the December 2006 Governors' Institute workshop, Governor Janet Napolitano signed Executive Order 2007-05, formalizing a Growth Cabinet and making state discretionary funding to local governments conditional on participation in a smart growth and development process led by the Growth Cabinet. In response to the governor's request for support, EPA's smart growth program provided follow-up assistance to help develop a scorecard for discretionary funding.
The scorecard was completed by the Growth Cabinet and reviewed by local governments.
The Governors' Institute has also produced Policies that Work: A Governors' Guide to Growth and Development, a publication for governors, staff, and cabinet secretaries that outlines policies, administrative actions, and spending decisions that have actually produced smarter growth in other states.
For more information on the Governors Institute, contact Clark Wilson (wilson.clark@epa.gov), 202-566-2880, or visit http://www.govinstitute.org/
For more information on the Mayors Institute on City Design, visit http://www.archfoundation.org/micd/
For more information on Your Town: Designing the Future, visit http://www.yourtowndesign.org/