Winter 2012

Strategies for Sustainable Communities

OPR recently released its Strategies for Sustainable Communities: A Guidebook Based on California Community Types.

The Guidebook is organized around ten Community Types that represent the diverse communities in California. These community types are defined by factors such as population, geographic location, average income, economic base, transit system, and street network that shape both core sustainability goals and the most relevant strategies for achieving them. The ten Community Types are:

1. Major City
2. High-Income Inner Suburb
3. Mixed-Income Inner Suburb
4. Suburb with Employment or Retail Center
5. Residential Suburb
6. Central Valley Hub City
7. Inland Small Town
8. Compact Coastal/University City
9. Natural Resource Town
10. Rural Agricultural and Natural Resource Community

This Guidebook is a starting point for local governments in identifying and developing policies and programs that improve community sustainability. The Guidebook currently focuses on land use and transportation policies and investments, reflecting the critical importance of these decisions in virtually all components of sustainability.

Download the guidebook at: opr.ca.gov/docs/StrategiesforSustainableCommunities.pdf