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The environmental impacts of sprawling development have been well documented, but few comprehensive studies have examined its economic costs. In 1996, a team of experts undertook a multi-year study designed to provide quantitative measures of the costs and benefits of different forms of growth. Sprawl Costs presents a concise and readable summary of the results of that study.

The authors analyze the extent of sprawl, define an alternative, more compact form of growth, project the magnitude and location of future growth, and compare what the total costs of those two forms of growth would be if each was applied throughout the nation. They analyze the likely effects of continued sprawl, consider policy options, and discuss examples of how more compact growth would compare with sprawl in particular regions. Finally, they evaluate whether compact growth is likely to produce the benefits claimed by its advocates.

The book represents a comprehensive and objective analysis of the costs and benefits of different approaches to growth, and gives decision-makers and others concerned with planning and land use realistic and useful data on the implications of various options and policies.

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CHOICE Review

Based on the premise that land, energy, tax revenues, and time are scarce commodities and should be consumed as efficiently as possible, Burchell (Center for Urban Policy Research, Rutgers Univ.) and coauthors A. Downs (Brookings Institution), B. McCann (journalist), and S. Mukherji (Center for Urban Policy Research) use statistical modeling techniques to estimate the monetary impacts of US-style suburbanization. They compare two scenarios: low-density development (the dominant pattern) and compact growth. Their objective is to specify the money wasted when new growth takes the former path. The analysis considers the costs attendant to land and natural resource consumption, infrastructure, real estate development, government finances, travel and congestion, quality-of-life, and sprawl-induced urban decline. They conclude that the cost of low-density development outweighs the benefits and exceeds the cost of compact growth. Consequently, they end with a brief discussion of policies designed to dampen sprawl and reduce its costs. Mixing technical reasoning with normative judgments, Sprawl Costs adds another perspective to the widespread public debate on sprawl currently underway in the US. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Public, academic, upper-division undergraduate and up, and professional library collections. R. A. Beauregard New School University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Robert Burchell is distinguished professor and co-director of the Center for Urban Policy Research at Rutgers University.

Anthony Downs is senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.
Barbara McCann is a former CNN journalist who has written extensively about transportation and land use policy issues for Smart Growth America and other organizations.
Sahan Mukherji is a research associate at the Center for Urban Policy Research.