Smart Growth Educational Program

We are now accepting applications for the Spring 2002:

Maryland Smart Growth Leadership Program

The movement for Smart Growth in cities, suburbs, and metropolitan regions has galvanized citizens and institutions across America. It has brought together diverse interest groups searching for guidelines to channel economic and residential development in a more environmentally-conscious, cost-effective manner.

Presented by the School of Public Affairs and the National Center for Smart Growth Education and Research at the University of Maryland, The Smart Growth Leadership Programs are designed to provide critical skills and knowledge to a diverse audience of interests. Federal, state, local, industry and nonprofit policy makers attending this program will be enabled to actively participate in leading the changes in policies and culture within and between their agencies to promote smarter growth.

The University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs will offer two Educational programs. The National Smart Growth Leadership Program for officials from key federal agencies, such as the EPA and the DOT, HUD, and USDA ; also state and local governments; and special interest organizations. This certificate program will be conducted in two week-long sessions and on-line instruction. The Maryland Smart Growth Leadership Program will be offered to State and Local elected and career officials, industry leaders, and nonprofit representatives. The Maryland program will be held in a 3-2-2-3 day format over a six week period. Please visit the dates page for more information.

The Smart Growth Leadership Programs are a component of the National Center for Smart Growth Education and Research. The Center involves faculty from several departments at the University of Maryland and other nationally recognized experts dedicated to multidisciplinary research, evaluation and educational activities related to Smart Growth issues.

The program is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative with an emphasis on group discussion and exercises that integrate the four themes of the curriculum (listed below). The program design acknowledges the variety of experience among the participants, and it seeks to expand and broaden their knowledge through the synergy of the classroom setting and web-based distance learning and discussion.

The Four Course Themes are:

Community Development: Determining What is Desirable and Sustainable
Examines the desirable characteristics of community. Considers issues such as: comprehensive planning; partnerships; the ecological effects of various kinds and sizes of communities; the role of public and private practices in bringing various communities into being; an overview of community and housing design alternatives; historic preservation; urban, rural, and new and aging suburban dilemmas and strategies.

Understanding Environmental Systems and Management
Examines the current authorities and programs to regulate and manage land use and related water and air resources by federal, state and local governments, and explores the potential for their more effective application through coordination with smart growth tools and programs.

Leadership Principles and Change Agency
Examines leadership principles and practices by focusing on theories of leadership and the study of leadership styles, as well as studying cases and engaging in discussions with practitioners. Participants will acquire the skills necessary to become change agents in support of smart growth principles and practices.

Infrastructure Planning and its Social, Economic and Environmental Effects
Examines the implications of major infrastructure decisions—roads, sewer and water, and utility planning. The impact of these decisions are tracked with respect to issues such as the regulatory environment, fiscal considerations, economic benefits and consequences, and capital and operating budgeting for major infrastructure.

"Under Tom Downs’ leadership, the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, College Park is rapidly becoming the best place in the country to learn about growth and quality of life issues. I commend the Center’s National Smart Growth Leadership Program to anyone interested in learning the tools and techniques of fostering more sustainable patterns of growth."

Parris N. Glendening
Governor of Maryland

Office of Executive Programs