Creating Great Places is an initiative of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) that helps governors design and implement state growth and physical development strategies that promote healthy, economically competitive and sustainable communities.

The initiative represents the first comprehensive approach, specifically tailored to the needs of the nation's governors, offering information on best practices and expert technical assistance on a wide variety of interrelated policies affecting growth and development. Issues addressed through the initiative include:

Housing & Community Development
The NGA Center assists governors in creating policies that meet their housing and community development needs in the context of a state's economic development and regional growth strategies. Currently, the NGA Center is conducting a six-state Policy Academy that includes a year of intensive technical support to help coordinate housing and economic development priorities, including providing affordable and workforce housing.

Community Design
The NGA Center helps governors develop broad statewide visions of preferred patterns of growth, encourage more efficient and effective collaboration among the many state agencies involved with land use and growth planning, and create more effective support and guidance to local government.

Transportation & Land Use Planning
The NGA Center works with governors on a number of issues related to transportation and land use, including planning strategies, "fix-it-first" strategies, context sensitive design, sprawl mitigation, community development and design, active living and air quality.

Water Resources
In order to minimize the negative effects of unmanaged growth on water supplies and water quality in rapidly growing areas, the NGA Center helps governors develop policies to better integrate growth and water management. The NGA Center provides a forum where state and local leaders can discuss their concerns and share best practices and helps promote coordination between local governments responsible for land use planning and state water agencies charged with servicing new growth.

Healthy Communities
Over the past few years, many states have taken steps to maintain and create healthy communities. The NGA Center helps governors develop strategies that support walkable and bikeable communities; promote better access to healthy food options; protect air and water quality; and encourage greater collaboration among state experts.

Military Bases & Communities
The NGA Center works with governors to develop and implement policies that create mutually supportive relationships between communities and the military installations in their jurisdictions. NGA Center staff has experience in assisting governors bring communities together to address incompatible growth and development around their installations. Moreover, work from the NGA Center has helped states and communities address the economic and environmental consequences of base closures and realignments.

Energy
The NGA Center assists governors in developing innovative policies and initiatives that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy sources in order to strengthen the nation's energy independence, reduce air emissions, conserve water and promote economic opportunity. The NGA Center works with energy experts and governors' advisors to identify best practices and strategies that result in multiple benefits for states and their regions, including increased affordability and a cleaner, healthier environment.

"Creating Great Places" was launched with the generous support of the Fannie Mae Foundation. Various elements of the initiative are supported by other organizations, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.