Advance Sustainable Land Use

The Environmental Law Institute’s Sustainable Use of Land Program recognizes that wasteful and unsustainable land uses often result from perverse incentives in laws and policies. ELI’s approach to sustainable land is “smarter laws, better choices.” ELI focuses on the laws that influence development activities, recognizing that changes in the laws of tax, finance, infrastructure investment, subsidy, housing, land use planning and regulation, governmental land management and acquisition, and liability, can profoundly affect land use choices and environmental protection. We develop and apply new legal approaches to assure that the additional 95 million people representing the projected increase in U.S. population by 2040 will have choices about places to live, work, and enjoy while sustaining the nation’s ecosystems, farmlands, forests, and open spaces, and reviving the nation’s cities and suburbs. Working in collaboration with state and local officials, businesses, and citizen groups, ELI is:

• Identifying and disseminating effective policies and policy reforms that align state and federal infrastructure planning and expenditures on sewer and wastewater treatment, water supply, utilities, transportation, and services, with patterns of development that revitalize older urban areas and promote conservation and efficient development in exurban and rural areas.
• Evaluating state and local tax policy alternatives that can support sustainable land use and water resources.
• Identifying ways in which “smart growth” can provide for affordable housing, public health, conservation, and fiscal health.