Summary

A look at how a local government can examine the "genetic codes" of its planning--the regulations and plans that govern development--to determine whether those codes are programmed to facilitate sprawl or smart growth. This report describes the concept of a smart growth audit and provides methods to implement one in your community. Examples from a state (Illinois), regions (in Indiana, the Puget Sound are, and metropolitan Atlanta) are included, but the focus is on how to do an audit at the local level, using case studies of the audits in Charlotte-Mecklenburg County and Durham, North Carolina, and Brookings, Oregon. A range of possible audits are described from a very basic audit to a very comprehensive audit, for which a checklist is included.