ISIL Freedom Network: United States > Scholarly and In-Depth Studies > Urban Sprawl

The 'vanishing farmland' myth and the smart-growth agenda
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Author: Samuel R. Staley
Country: United States

Sam Staley puts the information being used by smart-growth advocates on rural land losses into perspective. He offers insights into how these data are being misused. Adobe PDF format. (1/00)

Critiquing sprawl's critics
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Peter Gordon and Harry W. Richardson
Country: United States

This study critiques the common arguments against "urban sprawl." It also attempts to show that "American migration to the suburbs and exurbs can, in part, be seen as attempts by homeowners to move out of harm's way and protect their property rights." The full report is available in Adobe PDF. (1/00)

Does transit really work? Thoughts on the Weyrich/Lind conservative reappraisal
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Author: Peter Gordon
Country: United States

Conservative commentators Paul Weyrich and William Lind recently published work laying out the economic case for funding public transportation projects. Professor Gordon of the University of Southern California dissects their papers for the Reason Institute. (9/8/99)

Beware Portlandization of America
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Country: United States

Portland made famous the 'urban growth boundary,' and for those who could afford to continue living there and whose private property wasn't simply taken from them by the general public, there might have been an upside. "Beware Portlandization of America" points out the less-publicized, but overwhelming pitfalls. (10/22/99)

The sprawling of America: In defense of the dynamic city
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Author: Samuel R. Staley
Country: United States

Dr. Staley challenges the idea that land-use planners can somehow "outsmart" the real-estate market in allocating developed land in the manner most preferable to the public. (2/99)

Sprawl and the Federal Government
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: William A. Fischel
Country: United States

William Fischel looks at federal government policies that have contributed to the "Not-In-My-Backyard" attitude of the anti-urban sprawl crowd. (11/2/99)

A line in the land: Urban-growth boundaries, smart growth, and housing affordability
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Country: United States

Case studies demonstrate the negative, sometimes unintended consequences of excessive government intervention into the real estate market. Policy study. (11/5/99)

Cars, women, and minorities: The democratization of mobility in America
Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute
Author: Alan E. Pisarski
Country: United States

This report points to one of the less obvious injustices created by central land-use planning schemes -- minority and low-income auto-immobility. Adobe PDF (11/1/99)

Smart Growth at the Federal Trough EPA’s Financing of the Anti-Sprawl Movement
Source: The Cato Institute
Author: Peter Samuel and Randal O’Toole
Country: United States

The federal government has chosen sides in the urban sprawl debate. This study shows how the government supplies funds, via EPA grants, to "anti-automobile and anti-suburb" groups. The report is in Adobe PDF. (11/24/99)

The weak case for location efficient mortgages
Source: Resources for the Future
Author: Allen Blackman and Alan Krupnick
Country: United States

One of the policy weapons in the anti-sprawl arsenal is the "location efficient mortgage." Smart growth advocates argue that subsidizing inner-city housing cuts down on traffic and loan defaults. The facts suggest otherwise. Available in Adobe PDF format (2/00)

Effects of impact fees on the Chicago suburban housing market
Source: The Heartland Institute
Country: United States

Looking for more evidence of the ill effects of certain "smart growth" strategies such as impact fees? You need look no further than suburban Chicago. (11/19/99)

The increasing sustainability of autos
Source: Heartland Institute
Author: Joseph L. Bast and Jay Lehr, Ph.D.
Country: United States

According to The Heartland Institute's latest Policy Study, "...Not only are cars, trucks, and the internal combustion engine environmentally benign, but they are becoming increasingly sustainable." (6/22/00)

Flawed federal land use report
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: Wendell Cox and Ronald Utt, Ph.D.
Country: United States

The now infamous USDA blunder -- releasing bad data on national land conversions -- hasn't gone unnoticed with the cooler heads that have prevailed throughout the "sprawl crisis." They're calling for a review of the Natural Resources Inventory process. (5/8/00)

PERC Reports June 2000: Smart Growth
Source: Political Economy Research Center
Country: United States

Ronald Utt, Donald Leal, and Sam Staley provide insights on the origins of "sprawl" development and innovative ways to address it. Adobe PDF format. (6/00)

How urban density intensifies traffic congestion and air pollution
Source: Goldwater Institute
Author: Wendell Cox
Country: United States

This report debunks the myth that "traffic congestion and air pollution can be improved by forcing more people and more cars into smaller areas." It is available in Adobe PDF. (10/19/00)

Competition, not monopolies, can improve public transit
Source: Heritage Foundation
Author: Wendell Cox
Country: United States

Despite the evidence suggesting that transit is serving a smaller percentage of Americans, Congress continues to fund it at an increasing rate. Cox discusses why Congress continues to fund transportation programs that serve such small numbers of Americans at such a high cost and alternatives to public funding. (8/5/00)

Dense thinkers
Source: Reason
Author: Randal O'Toole
Country: United States

"New Urbanism," the latest fad in urban planning, promises less traffic, better air, and lower taxes. Here's what it really delivers. (01/99)

Do Wal-Mart and Home Depot spell the end of 'community'?
Source: Reason
Author: Nick Gillespie
Country: United States

"[It is] absurd to try to maintain the status quo (or an idealized version of the past) in the face of evolving desires, products, and technologies. In seeing sprawl as the enemy of vitality, the anti-superstore activists turn a blind eye to the very ways that people keep their communities alive." (05/95)

American dream boundaries: urban containment and its consequences
Source: Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Author: Wendell Cox
Country: United States

An anyalysis of the consequences of the urban growth oundary in Portland, OR and Atlanta including rising housing prices and a shortage of commercial land for development. (07/01)

Cincinnati: Ground zero in urban decline
Source: Reason
Author: Sam Staley
Country: United States

With their pursuit of illusory "magic bullets" and adoption of regulatory schemes that make the city an uncompetitive place in which to do business, Cincinnati officials have authored their own community's decline. (10/22/01)

Older suburbs: Crabgrass slums or new urban frontier
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Author: Joel Kotkin and Samuel R. Staley
Country: United States

This study "debunks the myth that older suburbs inevitably become the victims of further sprawl." It is available in Adobe PDF. (10/01)

Smart growth and its effects on housing markets
Source: National Center for Public Policy Research
Author: staff
Country: United States

Report from a study commissioned to quantify the effects of smart growth (the authors prefer "restricted growth") policies on minorities and the disadvantaged. (PDF file) (11/02)

Hot networks: A new plan for congestion relief and better transit
Source: RPPI
Author: Robert W. Poole Jr. and C. Kenneth Orski
Country: United States

Study examines the failure of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes to solve highway congestion problems, and offers a solution: variably priced tolls paid by single-user vehicles to avoid congestion. (PDF file) (2/03)

Smart Growth and housing affordability: Evidence from statewide planning laws
Source: Reason Public Policy Institute
Author: Sam Staley and Leonard C. Gilroy
Country: United States

This report examines the costs of statewide growth management laws in Florida and Washington. It shows "that between 1995 and 2000, Washington's Growth Management Act added $5,064 ($844 annually) to the price of a typical home in the state." The report is available in Adobe PDF. (12/18/01)

Smart growth in action, part 2
Source: RPPI
Author: William Fulton, Susan Weaver, Geoffrey F Segal, Lily Okamura
State: CA, Country: United States

"Building on a previous Reason-Solimar report that analyzed more than 120 Ventura County developments, researchers focused on residential projects built in six Ventura County cities in the late 1990s and discovered four reasons for the reduced densities." (PDF file) (5/03)

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