Smart growth addresses three questions:

• Where do we want to grow?
   
• How do we want to grow?
   
• How much do we want to grow?

We are facing big challenges due to choices we are making about what to build where:

• Our High-Priced Housing. Between 1980 and 2003, housing prices have grown at a faster rate than any other state in the US, and median home prices in the Metro Boston area are the third highest in the nation at $400,000.
   
• Our Social Dividers. By 1990, nearly 80 percent of the impoverished 143,000 school-aged children lived in older cities and towns. In 2000, only 8 percent of homes were owned by families of color.
   
• Our Vanishing Landscapes. Development consumes two acres of open space each hour in Massachusetts. About 88 percent of this land is going to new housing, and of this, 65 percent is for low-density residential.
   
• Our Limited Access to Jobs and Services. Massive investments have been recently made in transportation infrastructure, but traffic congestion has not decreased. Meanwhile, few improvements have been made to public transportation. This is a frustrating result: transportation options have not increased for low-income residents who may not have access to jobs in the suburbs or for those living outside of the city and are stuck in traffic along major transportation corridors.

To address these issues, we need to tackle the interconnected fields of housing, environment, transportation, economic development and social equity.