Urban sprawl in Western Europe and the United States

Urban sprawl is one of the key planning issues today. This book compares Western Europe and the USA, focusing on anti-sprawl policies. The USA is known for its settlement patterns that emphasize low-density suburban development and extreme automobile dependence, whereas European countries emphasize higher densities, pro-transit policies and more compact urban growth. Yet, on closer inspection, the differences are not as wide as first appears. A key feature of the book is the attention given to France; its experience is little known in the English-speaking world. The book concludes that both continents can offer each other useful insights and perhaps policy guidance.

Author Notes

Harry W. Richardson holds the James Irvine Chair of Urban and Regional Planning at the School of Policy, Planning and Development, University of Southern California, USA. Dr Chang-Hee Christine Bae is Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington, USA.

Chang-Hee Christine Bae and Harry W. RichardsonMichael BrehenyKatie WilliamsTerence BendixsonMark PenningtonSang-Chuel ChoeRemy Prud'homme and Bernard-Henri NicotAlain Sallez and Julien BurgiDenise PumainJean-Marie HuriotAntoine BaillyJefferey SellersHarry W. Richardson and Peter GordonArthur C. NelsonDonald MillerChang-Hee Christine BaeAlain Bertaud and Harry W. RichardsonRandall Crane and Daniel G. Chatman

List of Contributors	p. vii
List of Tables	p. ix
List of Figures	p. xiii
Foreword	p. xv
1. Introduction	p. 1
Part I The United Kingdom
2. Sustainable Settlements and Jobs-Housing Balance	p. 11
3. Reducing Sprawl and Delivering an Urban Renaissance in England: Are These Aims Possible Given Current Attitudes to Urban Living?	p. 37
4. Push-Pull Forces in the Spatial Organization of Greater London and South East England	p. 55
5. Knowledge, Decisions and Urban Form: Implications from the Socialist Calculation Debate	p. 65
6. The Thirty-Year's Experiment with British Greenbelt Policy in Korea: A Convergent Path to Sustainable Development	p. 83
Part II France and Continental Western Europe
7. Urban Sprawl in Rennes and 77 Urban Areas in France, 1982-1999	p. 93
8. Urban Sprawl in France 1990-1999	p. 115
9. Urban Sprawl: Is There a French Case?	p. 137
10. Concentration and Dispersal of Employment in French Cities	p. 159
11. Location Patterns of Producer Services: Between Centralization and Urban Sprawl; French and Swiss Case studies	p. 185
12. Urbanization and the Social Origins of National Policies Toward Sprawl	p. 195
Part III The United States of America
13. US Population and Employment Trends and Sprawl Issues	p. 217
14. Urban Containment American Style: A Preliminary Assessment	p. 237
15. Local Innovations in Controlling Sprawl: Experiences with Several Approaches in the Seattle Urban Region	p. 255
16. Immigration and Densities: A Contribution to the Compact Cities and Sprawl Debates	p. 277
17. Transit and Density: Atlanta, the United States and Western Europe	p. 293
18. Traffic and Sprawl: Evidence from US Commuting, 1985 to 1997	p. 311

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Table of Contents