Smart Growth in Rural Communities: Planning That Works

Walkable rural small town surrounded by farmland, with a compact downtown, farmers market, and mixed-use buildings supporting community-centered growth. Smart growth in rural communities.

The Problem With the Pattern We’ve Built Rural sprawl does not look like urban sprawl, but it produces many of the same outcomes: longer distances between people and services, higher per-capita infrastructure costs, degraded natural lands, and built environments that make daily life harder for anyone who cannot drive. The pattern is familiar across rural […]

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Bringing Parks and Recreation into the Community Plan

Aerial view of a rural town with visible green spaces, trails, and school fields woven between neighborhoods. Rural Communities.

Proven: Parks Are Critical Infrastructure for Rural Communities Healthy Communities Series  ·  Week 2 of 5 Parks Are Infrastructure: Why Rural Communities Need to Bring Parks and Recreation into their Community Plans The case for treating recreation as essential — not optional Policy Brief Community Infrastructure May 2026 The fairgrounds. A trail with exercise stations. […]

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