Anthony Downs

Smart Growth: Why We Discuss It More than We Do It

Abstract The Smart Growth vision has a strong intellectual and emotional appeal, compared to more sprawl. However, though some places follow Smart Growth policies, they are outnumbered by those where such policies are commonly discussed but rarely practiced effectively. Why is this the case? Successful implementation requires adopting policies that give up long-established traditions, including local home rule and low-density living patterns. These intermediate steps are unappealing to most Americans. This article analyzes where Smart Growth advocates among urban planners, government officials, environmentalists, and real estate developers should focus their attention if they hope to move from vision to reality.

Key Relationships Between Urban Development and Neighborhood Change

Abstract Changing neighborhood conditions cannot be understood apart from the overall urban development process. U.S. urban development has been a form of technological progress beneficial to most households, but harmful to those left in concentrated poverty areas, and to many forced to move by neighborhood change. Heavy past in-migration to metropolitan areas was accommodated by a process of households upgrading through movement to “better” neighborhoods—thus causing neighborhood change. Where such in-migration has slowed, upgrading in place may now be socially preferable. Cities faced with net declines in housing demand can accommodate themselves through several different strategies best determined at the local level.

Alternative Forms Of Future Urban Growth in The United States

Abstract Analysis of alarmist demands for vast amounts of new urban facilities, new cities, and new national urban policy points up Some areas of possible exaggeration, as well as the need for an accepted framework for discussing future urban growth. After proposing such a framework, this article develops the policy implications of attempted public intervention into future U.S. development.