Slow Growth and Urban Sprawl

Abstract

Proponents of more regional cooperation in U.S. metropolitan areas have suggested that increasing concern about the effects of unregulated growth creates the possibility of building a regional coalition around combating sprawl. Analysis of public opinion data from New York and Los Angeles suggest a more complicated picture. Suburbanites who are experiencing “city-like” problems in their communities seem increasingly receptive to slow-growth policies. However, residents of the central city in these areas are much less supportive of controls on growth—a problem for the goal of regional coalition building. Furthermore, even among suburbanites, support is not uniform: African-Americans, lower income residents, and those with stronger ties to the city are all less supportive of slow-growth measures.