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Salt Lake City Region, Utah
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A Strategy for Efficient and Sustainable Growth. The Envision Utah process culminated in the development of a Quality Growth Strategy (QGS) for the region that included a toolbox of strategies and policies as well as a preferred development scenario. The composite QGS (at left) was modeled for its impacts on land use, air quality, transportation infrastructure and other factors. The composite QGS represents a compilation of separate "advocacy layers" (below) which together form a complete Quality Growth Strategy. |
The Greater Wasatch Area in Utah is a region known for its scenic beauty, family-oriented residents, and strong sense of community. Residents cherish their high quality of life and hope that future generations can succeed in the region as they have. However, recent focus on projected growth for the region has highlighted the challenges of maintaining the region's assets in the wake of increasing population and development pressure. Projections show the region growing from 1.6 million residents to more than 2.2 million by 2020 and more than 5 million by 2050. Use of highway infrastructure is expected to increase at an even faster pace, and emissions of harmful pollutants are expected to exceed federal air quality standards.
The Envision Utah project arose out of an effort to educate the public about the issues and consequences associated with this growth and to begin thinking about ways to accommodate growth and maintain the quality of life that today's residents value and enjoy. Guided by a comprehensive study of the values of local residents, the project utilized an extensive public workshop process to develop regional growth strategies and a series of alternative development and infrastructure scenarios for the Salt Lake region.
| Some of the Advocacy Layers that make up the Quality
Growth Strategy: (click to enlarge each image) |
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| Open Space | Centers & Corridors | New Growth & Redevelopment | ||
| Scenario A: Auto-Oriented
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Scenario D: Transit-Oriented
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Incorporating input and information gained from more than 75 regional and local workshops, the first phase of the two-year Envision Utah process ended in the release of four regional growth scenarios. The alternative scenarios were created to illustrate the spectrum of ways by which the region could develop, and the varying consequences of different growth and development practices. The scenarios range from a low-density
alternative consisting of predominantly auto-oriented development types (left) to a
transit-oriented, higher-density alternative with more compact growth and higher levels of
infill and redevelopment (right). A baseline scenario, representing how the region would
develop given current growth patterns, was included as a comparison. Gray represents already urbanized areas; purple represents new development.
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Workshop groups worked on maps to distribute population across the region using a combination of development types, ranging from walkable and transit-friendly downtown, village, and town types, to more traditional residential and large-lot subdivisions, industrial/office parks, and suburban activity centers. Each icon, while occupying the same amount of space on the maps, consisted of varying levels of population and employment. Each group put together their own combination of walkable and non-walkable icons to meet the population requirements for the region. | 
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| Infrastructure Costs by Development Scenario | Land Consumption by Development Scenario | |
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| A sophisticated land-use transportation model analyzed the scenarios for their consequences and effects on a variety of factors, including land consumption, housing cost, air quality, and impacts on transportation and other infrastructure. | ||
