O22 A Geospatial Smart Growth Analysis of the West Essex Highlands Project

A Geospatial Smart Growth Analysis of the West Essex Highlands Project John Hasse, Ph.D. A.I.C.P. Rowan University

Applied Geospatial Research www.NJ-MAP.org - open source mapping resource NJ Conservation Blueprint NJ Smart Growth Explorer NJ landscape change analysis 1986-2020 smart growth geospatial analysis

West Essex Highlands Project 496 units of inclusionary multifamily residential housing on a currently forested 120 acres

Is it Smart Growth or is it Sprawl? Is this the most appropriate use of this land? What are the costs to West Orange

What is Smart Growth Anyway? “I may not be able to define it but I know it when I see it” Justice Potter Stewart 1964 supreme court decision

Form Follows Function Components are •In the right place •At the right scale •Efficient •Connected •Flowing •Integrated •Allows bodily systems to properly function

Urban Sprawl Leads to Dysfunction Things are: •Scattered (i.e. in the wrong place) •At the wrong scale •Inefficient •Poorly connected •Congested •Segregated •wasteful

Smart Growth designing spaces that make great community places Sprawl anything goes everywhere inefficient, costly

Quantifying Patterns of Smart Growth Can Smart Growth development be distinguished from Sprawl development? GIS mapping technology makes it possible.

Geospatial Smart Growth Metrics • 10 spatial measurements derived from the literature on smart growth and sprawl • empirical indicators – non-subjective • focus on spatial patterns • provide a report card on growth impacts