Costs of sprawl 2000.

The objective of this study is to provide policymakers and citizens with credible quantitative measures of the relative costs and benefits of two different forms of metropolitan growth.The analysis that is undertaken monitors the 25-year growth of households and employment in the United States, positioning that growth differently in counties according to sprawl versus controlled-or smart-growth futures for each of the Economic Areas (EAs) defined by the U.S. Census, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).Thus, a 25-year projection of growth in households and a similar-period projection of growth in jobs are allocated differently in counties according to sprawl versus controlled-growth development patterns.These two different futures —one of low-density sprawl development at the outer reaches of the metropolitan area,nd the other of more compact,centrally oriented development —form the bases for the analysis of the different scenarios’ demands for land, infrastructure, housing, and public services.Over the pro- jection period, household growth nd employment growth are maintained comparably at the EA level, and household size is iterated and adjusted to maintain similarly comparable gross population counts. The purpose of this effort is threefold. First, it seeks to define and determine the incidence of sprawl in the United States.That is, if sprawl is characterized as significant residential and nonresidential growth in rural and undeveloped counties, then which specific state and county locations are the sites of significant sprawl growth nationally ? The second purpose of the analysis is to determine the resource and personal impacts that sprawl growth occasions. What are the land conversion, infrastructure, public service, property development, travel, quality-of-life and social impact differences between sprawl and an alternative development form,controlled growth ? Finally, the third purpose of the analysis is to seek out benefits of sprawl, if any, and their magnitude, as well as current and future curative measures to counteract sprawl. (A)