Welcome to the NJ Smart Growth Explorer *BETA*! The NJ Smart Growth Explorer is a free, publicly accessible web map made for all NJ residents and decision-makers to understand factors of development, redevelopment, and environmental sensitivity across NJ’s 564 municipalities. It was developed by the Office of Planning Advocacy and the NJ MAP team in Rowan University’s Geospatial Research Lab.
The Smart Growth Explorer is an interactive map website where users may explore any area in NJ (from statewide to block/lot) to understand existing data and information that may inform better decision-making at the local level. Whether it’s to understand current or potential climate impacts, visualize environmental conditions throughout a municipality, or how to better balance municipal economic growth & development pressure alongside current zoning and master planning. Take a closer look with NJ Smart Growth Explorer!
Counties and municipalities often lean on the expertise of planners to understand the intricacies of their built and natural environments. However, this professional service is often costly and complex for rural, sparsely populated areas and urban townships alike. NJ MAP provides information tools that function across all 564 municipalities, supporting a comprehensive approach to land management. Free, real-time access to planning information for all stakeholders results in a better informed and more equitable decision-making process.
More specifically, getting useful information in one place for local officials to utilize in the face of intense land use challenges where important considerations are made on a day to day basis. This allows county and local government the agility to become more proactive. The Smart Growth Explorer provides custom modeling to understand the fabric of ecological integrity that blankets the Garden State while also recognizing the principles of Smart Growth to encourage development/redevelopment in a logical pattern that minimizes detrimental impacts and fosters more sustainable adaptation for our growing population of over 9.2 million!
Please note the NJ Smart Growth Explorer, while supported by and developed with the Office of Planning Advocacy, it is not part of the official State Plan policy map.