Panel: NWA needs regional strategy

What they're saying: "Relying on organic development to fill the gaps that we're missing in Northwest Arkansas — that's not going to happen," Johnson Mayor Chris Keeney said during the discussion.

• "If we don't manage growth, it will manage us."

Keeney said his city's experience with Johnson Square showed that growth does not have to erase a community's character but that growth can help create identity.

• The debate there included fears about multifamily housing, crime and declining property values, he said, but public discussions and education helped residents understand what benefits mixed-use development could bring.

The same concerns came up repeatedly in conversations across the region: traffic, preserving rural land and protecting each community's identity, said Susan Henderson, a principal at urban planning firm PlaceMakers, which helped develop the report.

• Collaboration will be essential because the region's challenges are now happening at scale, she said.

When growth is handled well, it should "feel like opportunity and not pressure," said Meredith Bergstrom, senior program officer with the Walton Family Foundation.

The bottom line: If done right, "it will look like you designed it — that it was done with purpose — rather than that it took advantage of you," Henderson said.