Guy R. McPherson

The Planner¿s Guide to Natural Resource Conservation:

Exurbanization occurs on privately owned lands that are found beyond the metropolitan fringe and outside the jurisdiction of federal and state lands held in the public trust. This chapter describes exurban land development from the perspective of Aldo Leopold’s human–land community. It uses a historical approach to explain why Leopold’s human–land community never materialized and how this framed the country’s relationship with land from its founding through the recent era of exurban land development. Issues covered include urbanization, the rise of regional planning, consumerism, conservation and preservation movements, federal land policies, and the causes of exurbanization.