The Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance (MSGA) promotes healthy and diverse communities, protects critical environmental resources and working landscapes, advocates for housing and transportation choices, and supports equitable community development and urban reinvestment.
The following values guide us in pursuing our mission:
-
PROTECT OUR RESOURCES.
Our public resources should be stewarded prudently and efficiently by maintaining our existing infrastructure and our public realm. The Commonwealth’s investments should leverage infill and redevelopment opportunities whenever possible. The public good should outweigh private benefit at all times, but should encourage and leverage private initiative in mutually beneficial ways. Major infrastructure expansions should not undermine other sustainable and equitable development goals, or weaken existing population centers.
-
COORDINATE LAND USE, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND TRANSPORTATION PLANNING.
Municipalities, regions, and the state should plan land-use and infrastructure jointly. Without being static, plans should strive to identify and pursue a preferred long-range scenario. Regional growth patterns should reduce greenhouse gases and anticipate climate change. Housing, transportation, water, and economic development investments need to complement each other and not proceed in isolated silos.
-
FOSTER MIXED USE NEIGHBORHOODS.
A mix of land-uses should be pursued whenever possible to create a safe and active streetscape. Everybody should be able to walk somewhere useful, whether a school, or a store, or to friends and family, or a natural area.
-
CREATE AND STRENGTHEN CONNECTIONS.
The principle of connectivity guides us. Linking smaller and larger open areas to each other preserves meaningful habitat and multiplies recreational opportunities. Likewise, thoughtfully connecting different transportation modes, or linking isolated routes, increases our ability to get where we want to go and minimizes frustrating bottlenecks. Just as importantly, connecting people to each other across sectors and issues will cultivate improved policies and better implementation on the ground.
-
ENSURE HOUSING OPTIONS FOR ALL.
Housing options should be available and accessible to residents who grew up in a community, as well as to newcomers who wish to join.
-
DEVELOP IN STRATEGIC AREAS.
Public discourse about development should be constructive and focused on problem-solving. However, development in harmful locations should be firmly discouraged and alternatives recommended. Members of the Alliance will strive to make our communities better than they would otherwise be—not perfect, and not unchanging.
|