Retracting suburbia: Smart growth and the future of housing

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1999

Publication Title

Housing Policy Debate

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Volume

10

Issue

4

Abstract

Metropolitan areas throughout the United States increasingly experience sprawl development. States such as Oregon and Maryland have enacted land use legislation that curbs sprawl by promoting denser urban growth. Smart growth, a new method of metropolitan development leading to more compact regions, offers an alternative to sprawl. Given that housing comprises a major share of the built environment, policies that promote denser residential development form a key component of smart growth.

This article provides an analytic review of the ways housing can be used to support successful smart growth policies. It focuses on three areas: the market for higher density housing, land use issues associated with denser housing development, and methods for financing higher density and mixed-use housing. The literature on the link between smart growth and housing remains underdeveloped. We offer this synthesis as a way to advance the state of knowledge on smart growth's housing dimension.

Keywords

Cities and towns – Growth; City planning; Growth management; Housing; Land use/zoning; Suburbs; Sustainable development; Urban density

Disciplines

Human Geography | Other Geography | Sustainability | Urban Studies | Urban Studies and Planning

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited

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