Welcome to NCAT's Smart Communities
Network
We are delighted to offer you this menu of information and services on how your community
can adopt sustainable development as a strategy for well-being. You'll be in good company.
We're finding that more and more cities, villages, neighborhoods and regions are using
sustainable development as a guiding principle not only for near-term projects, but also
for planning their futures. That's because sustainable projects:
- Strengthen your local economy;
- Improve and protect the quality of the environment; and
- Enhance the quality of life and the well-being of all of the people in your
community.
As your community's environment, economy and quality of life grow stronger, so does
your future. That's because truly sustainable development produces enduring benefits, not
just today, but for our children and their children as well. But sustainable development
projects offer real benefits in the short term, too. They create jobs. They lower
operating costs for homes, businesses and taxpayers. They reduce pollution control costs.
They make your community more attractive as a place to live and do business. In the
database of case studies on this home page, you'll see hard evidence that these benefits
are real.
Why are we interested in sustainable development? Our nation needs
ample supplies of clean, affordable energy, and America's energy future
is being built neighborhood by neighborhood. As your community makes
its development decisions—with
all of the attendant impacts on transportation patterns, building
efficiency, industrial productivity and so on—you
affect energy security, as well as the nation's economic and
environmental health.
On this website, you'll be able to:
- Read about other communities
that have discovered the benefits of sustainable development;
- Locate technical and financial
resources that can help your community plan and carry out sustainable development
projects; and
- Access model
codes and ordinances other communities have used to implement
sustainable development.
America's strongest communities in the years ahead will be those that consciously adopt
sustainable development as the guiding principle of their growth. We hope your community
will be one of them.
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