LEWISTON — Urban growth advocates said Wednesday that generational demographics are pushing for the very things they’ve been advocating for the past decade — less suburban sprawl, better public transportation and jobs and economies built around creative economies.

It’s up to small communities to provide what those people want, according to panelists at GrowSmart Maine’s annual meeting. The meeting, at the Atrium in the Bates Mill Enterprise Complex, drew business and government leaders from across the state to talk about smart growth and what it means.

“My favorite definition of smart growth is this: Get drunk, walk home. Smart growth,” said Roger Millar, vice president of Smart Growth America’s Leadership Institute.

People are moving to communities that provide for their needs, he said. They want communities where their lives are within a few minutes’ walk, not a commute.

Millar asked the crowd how many of them remembered “Ozzie and Harriet” and their suburban lifestyle. A few raised their hands.

“Very few people remember them, so why do we keep building our communities for them?” Millar said. “We are coming out of a recession and I think GrowSmart Maine can remind elected officials and businesspeople alike that the world has changed.”

Other members of the panel agreed. Grow L+A President Gabrielle Russell, a local architect, said it’s one reason she moved back to Lewiston after college. She dated a guy who lived in a suburban part of Marietta, Ga., before moving home.

“Anytime we had to go somewhere, to the movies or out to eat, we were in the car for 45 minutes,” she said. “So when I came back here, I ended up buying a building downtown. And within a three-block radius, I can go to the market, I can go to restaurants or bars and walk home, I can go to the bank. It’s a totally different way to live.”

The annual meeting began with a look at the previous 10 years of smart-growth efforts in Maine by Orono Town Planner Evan Richert, a former director of the Maine State Planning Office.

That was followed by a panel discussion featuring Millar, Russell, Maine Department of Transportation Commissioner David Bernhardt and Betsy Biemann, former president and innovation adviser for the Maine Technology Institute. The panel discussion was moderated by Kevin Bunker, founder of the Developers Collaborative and a member of GrowSmart Maine’s board of directors.

All agreed that young knowledge workers want urban environments with easy access to recreation and nice amenities.

So-called “knowledge workers” include software engineers, architects and lawyers because their jobs involve problem-solving and creative thinking.

“If those knowledge workers, those cool people and change-agent folks can live anywhere on the planet, why would they choose to live here?” Millar asked. “What strengths do you have, how do you build on those and what gaps do you need to fill? That’s what you need to think about to bring those people to the state of Maine.”

At the same time, the demographic of retirees is looking to bloom, and they’ll be looking for the same things, Millar said. Public transportation will be important for those people, and they will choose communities that make it available and easy.

“The average American male is going to outlive his ability to drive by seven years, and the average woman by 11,” Millar said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t still be out there bumping into each other.

“So how do we maintain our independence and our dignity in the communities we live in when we have to hang up the car keys for the last time? And how are local governments going to move people around who feel they’ve earned a right to be moved around?”

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