I don't plan events just because. But what we've learned @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social over the last 10+ yrs of @plcc.bsky.social is that we are better when we are all working together & learning from each other. Please join us for this free eTOD event in Sept! www.umdsmartgrowth.org/affordable-c...

Love seeing my @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social colleagues on GGWash!

Greater Greater Washington@ggwash.org · 3mo ago

With the Transit and Housing Opportunity Act, the Maryland state government wrests control over some aspects of land use from local governments near certain rail transit stations.

We've been busy at the National Center for Smart Growth - check out our quarterly newsletter! ncsg-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/april-2026...

Just out from NCSG Director @drkatehowell.bsky.social, NCSG faculty fellow Casey Dawkins and PhD Student Sophie McManus!

Kate Howell@drkatehowell.bsky.social · 4mo ago

In a new article, co-authored w/Casey Dawkins & Sophie McManus, we use data on TOPA transactions to understand the impacts of TOPA on preservation outcomes. tl/dr: TOPA was highly effective at preserving affordable housing, particularly where rents were rising. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

📣🏆2026 Best Article in the Journal of Urban Affairs Award Recipients: Megan Hatch, Elora Lee Raymond, Ben Teresa, & Kathryn Howell urbanaffairsassociation.org/2026/03/30/b... @meganehatch.bsky.social @benfteresa.bsky.social @drkatehowell.bsky.social @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social @eloralee.bsky.social

It's Giving Day at UMD, and you can support NCSG's community engaged work. For general NCSG support (givingday.umd.edu/campaigns/na...) or to support PALS: givingday.umd.edu/campaigns/pals

Give to National Center for Smart Growth (NCSG) | Giving Day

I’m ready to support National Center for Smart Growth (NCSG) on March 4, 2026 during Giving Day. Learn more about National Center for Smart Growth (NCSG)

givingday.umd.edu

In 2025, @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social & the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) released a State Housing Needs Assessment Report, updating the 2020 Housing Needs Assessment. Thread of highlights from the 2025 executive summary 1/n dhcd.maryland.gov/Documents/Re...

Speakers: - @drkatehowell.bsky.social, @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social growth.bsky.social - @yonahfreemark.com, @urbaninstitute.bsky.social - Tushar Kansal, Pew Charitable Trusts Moderated by Claudia Wilson Randall, Community Development Network of Maryland RSVP now: tinyurl.com/as3uax34

Webinar: Does more housing make housing more affordable? - Coalition For Smarter Growth

This Thursday, Jan. 22, we’re talking to housing experts to explore the relationship between housing production and affordability.

smartergrowth.net

New Carrollton station is changing! 12/2, 2:30P, walk w/ us to see what's happening around this major transit hub. There's a lot to see & more on the way. This tour will give a bird's eye view & on-the-ground look. We've got Metro, MARC, Amtrak, Purple Line & lots of new buildings bit.ly/49Dn9Tu

I love seeing my @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social colleagues talking about their brilliant work!

Urban Affairs Review@urbanaffairsreview.bsky.social · 9mo ago

🎧NEW EPISODE! Listen to our interview with Willow Lung, author of "The Right to Suburbia: Combating Gentrification on the Urban Edge,” from @ucpress.bsky.social. www.urbanaffairsreview.com/uar-archive/...

Just a reminder - this position is open until November 25!

Kate Howell@drkatehowell.bsky.social · 9mo ago

We're hiring a new policy associate @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social! We are looking for someone interested in community responsive policy work to support center initiatives. $65K-$80K, depending on experience. umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/d...

2025 MD Housing Needs Assessment is out! Lots of great analysis in there...among other things it highlights our ongoing mismatch of housing options, our severe gap at multiple affordability levels, and our need for more land zoned for higher densities Awesome work from @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social

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news.maryland.gov

I'm excited to be presenting on research from my forthcoming book, Schools for Sale: Disinvestment, Dispossession, and School Building Reuse in Philadelphia on Nov 7th ata the APA Public Schools and Communities Division School Planning Summit! lnkd.in/eYxCPTtH @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social

We're hiring a new policy associate @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social! We are looking for someone interested in community responsive policy work to support center initiatives. $65K-$80K, depending on experience. umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/d...

I should also mention that this special issue was guest edited by NCSG Faculty member @arielbphd.bsky.social who did an awesome job working with PRRAC to get a great group of essays together.

Kate Howell@drkatehowell.bsky.social · last yr.

Excited to contribute to @prrac.bsky.social's new special issue on transportation equity with @plcc.bsky.social director Sheila Somashekhar & former @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social dir. Gerrit Knaap, highlighting the work of the Purple Line Corridor Coalition www.prrac.org/newsletters/...

We are excited to get our first quarterly newsletter out! In it we highlight upcoming events in the center, new research and more! ncsg-newsletter.beehiiv.com/p/april-2025...

April 2025 Newsletter

ncsg-newsletter.beehiiv.com

Looking for a reason to celebrate? Mark your calendars for the PALS (Partnership for Action Learning and Sustainability) Showcase open house to see what UMD Students + Community Partners have been doing this year May 8th, 11:30-2:00 arch.umd.edu/events/pals-...

Looking for a reason to celebrate? Mark your calendars for the PALS (Partnership for Action Learning and Sustainability) Showcase open house to see what UMD Students + Community Partners have been doing this year May 8th, 11:30-2:00 arch.umd.edu/events/pals-...

One of our Partnership for Action Learning and Sustainability (PALS) courses brought together Plant Sciences Students at UMD and @wmata.com to help develop plans for planting around stations dbknews.com/2025/03/26/u...

UMD horticulture class project aims to beautify Metro stations with native plants

The students are creating a glossary of plants and example plantings based on different Metro station environments.

dbknews.com

On a @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social lunch field trip for riverdalerestautantweek.org to Maria Bonita Restaurant. @plcc.bsky.social

Over the past 18 months of directing @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social I've gotten to know more and more amazing Purple Line businesses. Supporting businesses like these is part of an anti-displacement agenda. Related, it's Riverdale Restaurant Week riverdalerestaurantweek.org

Greater Greater Washington@ggwash.org · last yr.

Friends with Bonifants: David Schneider visited every business along Bonifant Street in Silver Spring, to see how Purple Line construction is affecting the retail environment. Here's what he found.

The Purple Line Corridor Coalition was one of the reasons I was excited about running NCSG. The commitment to coalition building, meaningful engagement in policy & practice and the intentional base in lived experience is powerful and is changing the conversation in MD. Please drop in & support us.

National Center for Smart Growth (at the University of Maryland)@umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social · last yr.

It's giving day at UMD. Did you know that you can donate directly to support the work of the Purple Line Corridor Coalition's work to prevent displacement along the new transit corridor @plcc.bsky.social ? giving.umd.edu/giving/fund....

It's giving day at UMD. Did you know that you can donate directly to support the work of the Purple Line Corridor Coalition's work to prevent displacement along the new transit corridor @plcc.bsky.social ? giving.umd.edu/giving/fund....

A new piece from NCSG Assoc. Dir. @nick-finio.bsky.social on anticipatory effects of the Purple Line Construction in Maryland. It illustrates a clear need for ongoing partnership between multi-sector partnerships through groups like @plcc.bsky.social journalper.substack.com/p/suburban-d...

Suburban Dreams or Gentrification Nightmares?

The Purple Line's Big Impact

journalper.substack.com

Op-Ed: Equitable Transportation Research Makes America Great from @alexkarner.bsky.social and others: usa.streetsblog.org/2025/02/12/o...

Op-Ed: Equitable Transportation Research Makes America Great. So Why Is the Trump Admin Hollowing It Out? — Streetsblog USA

Allowing political considerations to hollow out and cancel ongoing research is not only harmful to whatever domain the administration deems a threat, but it sets an alarming precedent for research at ...

usa.streetsblog.org

Great work out of @umdsmartgrowth.bsky.social's Small Business Anti-Displacement Network - they have been working with communities across the country to better understand ways to keep preserve businesses that are often keepers of culture and gathering spaces.

Greater Greater Washington@ggwash.org · 2y ago

DC has cutting-edge, progressive residential anti-displacement protections. Extending some of these to commercial tenants could help neighborhood small businesses survive, thereby reducing displacement.

NCSG Fac. & SBAN Dir. Willow Lung-Amam on the impact of deportations in MD communities "What I fear for communities like Langley Park are not just the level of deportations…but the larger sense that that community doesn’t matter or that the people in it don’t matter" cnsmaryland.org/2024/12/03/t...

Trump’s mass deportations could hit Maryland economy, experts warn

Throughout his campaign for a second term, President-elect Donald Trump promised his administration would carry out the largest mass deportation operation in American history. Experts say this move…

cnsmaryland.org

NCSG Faculty member @arielbphd.bsky.social offers 4 key lessons on the ways education and community development can be mutually reinforcing from work in Baltimore City. Tl;DR: build shared goals, acknowledge the past, build deep partnerships & make anti-displacement housing policy central.

Ariel Bierbaum@arielbphd.bsky.social · 2y ago

My latest article in @shelterforce.bsky.social summarizes lessons learned from my study (w @anbutler5.bsky.social and Erin O'Keefe) on Baltimore's school building program and community development efforts. shelterforce.org/2024/12/05/r...

Assoc. Dir. Nick Finio's new paper examines costs & benefits of TOD in MD. Evidence suggests that the benefits of the Purple Line may be imbalanced against costs. Coalitions pushing for TOD must be more inclusive of equity & affordable housing. @plcc.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

Parking cashout! Speaking of parking, did you know that DC requires employers to offer alternatives to a paid parking space? Not clear the Bowser administration is ensuring that employers know about reporting on compliance by 1/15/25. Look how easy the portal is! Make sure your boss knows about it.