Year Published
2001
Abstract
For as long as there have been cities, most urban growth has been outward.
This trend is accelerating in the modern era because of rapidly falling
communications and transportation costs. Today, most growth in America
as well as in other developed countries is not in the cities but in the outer
suburbs and exurbs. This is significant in the U.S. because of the widespread assertion
that suburbanization is a “problem” engendered by peculiar public policies (wideranging highway networks, favorable tax treatment of residential mortgage interest,
zoning codes, low gasoline taxes, etc.). By contrast, many European and Canadian
urban policies strongly favor compact development
This trend is accelerating in the modern era because of rapidly falling
communications and transportation costs. Today, most growth in America
as well as in other developed countries is not in the cities but in the outer
suburbs and exurbs. This is significant in the U.S. because of the widespread assertion
that suburbanization is a “problem” engendered by peculiar public policies (wideranging highway networks, favorable tax treatment of residential mortgage interest,
zoning codes, low gasoline taxes, etc.). By contrast, many European and Canadian
urban policies strongly favor compact development
Research Category