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 […]

Continue Reading

You may also like

A Practical Guide to Rural Health, Livability & Planning Tools

Early morning in a walkable rural town with sidewalks, local shops, and residents moving through a calm community setting

What Does a Healthy Rural Community Actually Look Like? – JC Shepard May 2026 · Week 1 of 5 — Health, Parks & the Outdoors What Does a Healthy Rural Community Actually Look Like? Planners have long known that where you live shapes how long you live. Here is how smaller communities are using real […]

Continue Reading

You may also like