Techniques for mitigating urban sprawl: goals, characteristics, and suitability factors

摘要: Urban sprawl, driven by population and economic growth, is a pressing issue in the US According to government figures, new development is gobbling land at an alarming rate of 365 acres per hour (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2002). Between 1960 and 1990, the amount of developed land in metro areas more than doubled, whereas the population grew by less than half (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2001). The contribution of sprawl to a variety of problems in metropolitan areas has been well documented: traffic congestion, degradation of air and water quality, lack of equity of economic opportunity, and so on. In response, various efforts to slow urban sprawl and mitigate its effects have been and are being developed and implemented in different contexts and with different intents under the popular umbrella of “smart growth.” Transportation plays an important role in these efforts: Transportation investments and policies can be used to influence development patterns, and policies that promote more compact development can help to slow the growth in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), both in total and per person. However, the list of possible smart growth strategies is long, and transportation agencies and other planning agencies are often at a loss as to what strategies make the most sense for their communities. The challenge is especially acute in states such as Texas that have little tradition in managing urban growth. The purpose of this project was to identify transportation-related and growth management strategies and policy actions used in smart growth efforts and to catalogue them with respect to goals, characteristics, and …