Infill development is a strategy for accommodating growth and preventing sprawl through greater density and efficiency in land use development within existing urban boundaries.  

Articles 

Filling in the Blanks, an article in Real Estate Portfolio, describes the trend in the development world toward urban infill, the movement which builds on vacant or blighted lands in urban areas as antidote to sprawl.

Infill Development: Rebuilding Our Cities for a Sustainable Future, a factsheet from the Greenbelt Alliance. (PDF)

Infill Development, part of EPA's Antidotes to Sprawl, identifies federal initiatives for infill.

Infill in the Marketplace: Alternatives to Sprawl, from On the Ground magazine.  

Infill Development: Strategies for Shaping Livable Neighborhoods, a report from the Municipal Research & Services Center of Washington.

The Scoop on Infill Development, part of the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce's 2001 Urban Development section.

Sprawl Guide Solutions: Infill Development, from the Planning Commissioner's Journal, offers infill project and program examples from several communities.

Publications 

The Infill and Redevelopment Code Handbook, from Oregon's Transportation and Growth Management Program, 1999 (PDF, 4236k)
The Handbook identifies major obstacles to infill and redevelopment, suggests overall strategies for incentives and obstacle removal, and offers specific tools to remove regulatory obstacles, including sample code provisions and code audit worksheets.

Building Livable Communities: A Policymaker’s Guide to Infill Development, Local Government Commission, 2nd edition.  
Identifies what local governments can do to encourage infill development and redevelopment. Includes an extensive bibliography. Available for order from the Local Government Commission.   

Smart Infill: Creating More Livable Communities in the Bay Area, Greenbelt Alliance, 2002.
This 72-page guidebook for civic leaders and local citizens presents 12 key strategies to bring about well-planned infill housing and mixed-use development. Downloadable as a PDF.

Strategies for Successful Infill Development, Northeast-Midwest Institute and Congress for the New Urbanism, 2001.
This 130-page book is available online with each chapter a separate PDF file. Much of the material is drawn from a 1999 symposium on infill development.

Accomodating Growth Through Infill Development, Washington Research Council, 2001.
This policy brief focuses on encouraging infill development by removing impediments. Downloadable online in PDF.

Fixing It First: Targeting Infrastructure Investments to Improve State Economies and Invigorate Existing Communities (PDF, 313 KB), National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, 2004.
The report finds that states accrue more benefits from the “fix-it-first” approach than from developing new schools, sewers, roads, and utilities.

Last updated: February 11, 2005

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