U.S. EPA Provides Guidance for Infill Development in Distressed Communities

The United States Environmental Protection Agency released a new report that gathers 30 strategies "to help local governments overcome obstacles and encourage infill development in distressed communities."

A post announcing the new report acknowledges that although some cities have been successfully in revitalizing downtown neighborhoods through infill development in recent years and decades, "economically distressed communities have been less able to attract infill development and attain the accompanying economic, environmental, health, and quality of life benefits."

The report therefore focuses its recommendations on helping distressed communities "determine their readiness to pursue infill development and identify strategies to better position themselves to attract infill development."

The report grew out of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative, established by an Executive Order from President Obama, which used the city of Fresno in California as its case study. According to the announcement, the report is also the basis for the Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities technical assistance program, offered by the U.S. EPA.