The presentation concludes with a review of findings and future implications. The broad aim of transportation planning is to provide people with the mobility to perform all activities that they wish to do. This includes creating a transportation network for all individuals, whether they travel by private car, public transit, cycling or walking. Transportation planning however has evolved to cater to the private car owner and has shifted its focus to the construction of new roads rather than public transportation. But this has increased society's reliance on the automobile and has helped to engrain in us a belief that we need the car.
Car ownership rises and as a result highways become further congested.
Planners create new road networks to alleviate this problem but despite this infrastructure, highways continue to be flooded with traffic it would seem that congestion begets congestion. Transportation planning focuses on the creation of new roads which does not eliminate the problem of congestion. New solutions therefore need to be created with attention moving away from transportation networks for private car owners. This presentation begins with a discussion of how the concept of smart growth came about. The research examines the core objectives of smart growth policy and the four principles to smart development.