Local Growth Management Research Articles

Long-term water quality response to increased hydraulic loadings in a field-scale free water surface constructed wetland treating domestic effluent

There is limited understanding of how constructed wetland (CW) water quality may change over time in response to increased wastewater nutrient and hydraulic loadings. We evaluated long-term water quality trends and drivers for a full-scale (8.19 ha) free water surface CW that was developed in 2001 for the treatment of increasing amounts of pre-treated domestic wastewater from the township of Mount Barker, South Australia. Water quality parameter concentrations and loads, hydraulic loadings rates, trend direction assessments (TDAs), and water quality parameter removal efficiencies were analysed over the study period. The wetland received an annual average loading rate of 947, 19644, 31039, 18140, 2985, and 807 kg year−1 for BOD5, TN, NH4–N, TKN-N, NOx-N, and TP respectively and removed on average 8%, 72%, 73%, 78%, 12% and −246% of these loadings respectively. The average influent concentrations for the study period were 2.6, 42.3, 40.6, 35.9, 9.0, and 1.9 mg L−1 for BOD5, TN, NH4–N, TKN-N, NOx-N, and TP respectively. Average concentration removal rates over the study period were 50%, 39%, 40%, 15%, −216% and −600.5% for TN, NH4–N, TKN-N, NOx-N, BOD5 and TP respectively, suggesting that nitrogen was only partly assimilated by the wetland and it was a source of organic material and phosphorus. Using seasonally and inflow rate adjusted data, TDAs predicted virtually certain increases in TN, NH4–N, and TKN-N influent concentrations over time, a decline in NOx-N, no trend in BOD5, and a possible decreasing trend in TP. The inflow explained variance accounted for approximately 50% of the variation in TN, NH4–N and TKN-N effluent concentrations. Annual removal efficiencies of N declined with increasing hydraulic loads, and hydraulic loading rates varied with management practices. Seasonal analysis showed that N removal was greater during summer and lower in winter. Due to local population growth and various management practices, hydraulic loading is variable and has often exceeded design targets. Our findings indicate the long-term performance of CWs need to be closely monitored, as water quality can deteriorate due to increased hydraulic loadings.

The Application of Douglas Production Function in Urban Local Economic Growth Management Under Computer Big Data

Cobb Douglas production function also has unique advantages in quantitative analysis of the factors that influence urban economic growth, as well as the short-term and long-term effects and adjustments of various resource inputs on urban economy. Cobb Douglas production function combined with computer technology, the data analysis is more targeted. Therefore, it has been more and more widely used in the study of urban local economic growth management. This paper first analyzes the cobb-douglas production function theory, and then studies the practical application of the cobb-douglas production function model in urban local economic growth. Finally, through the estimation and adjustment of the Cobb Douglas production function model with computer technology, the influence and effect of different variables on the local economic growth of the city were analyzed.

Fifty years of local growth management in America

This article looks at the efficacy of a diverse set of local growth management programs undertaken in the United States since the early 1970s. Organized into three sections, it begins with a brief history of growth management milestones, tracing the evolution of growth management programs from Ramapo, New York’s original 1969 ordinance to the emergence of the Smart Growth movement in the mid-1990s. A second part organizes and summarizes the growth management efficacy and adverse effect literatures. A third part takes a fresh look at the success of local growth management programs by comparing population growth, sprawl, and fiscal and housing price outcome measures across eight pairs of communities, one of which (i.e., “case study community”) adopted a growth management program, and the other (i.e., “peer community”) which did not. It concludes with a summary assessment of fifty years of local growth management experiences, along with some lessons for how planners might best deal with forthcoming rounds of suburban growth.

The implication of regional and local growth management policies on sprawl: A case of the Calgary Metropolitan Area

ABSTRACT The Calgary Metropolitan Area experienced unprecedented growth between 1991 and 2011, becoming the most densifying metropolitan area in Canada. New developments during this period were concentrated in the city edge and exurban areas in parallel with the population growth and occurred contiguously to the existing urban areas. Local growth management policies were found to be effective in densifying the inner suburban areas. However, during the same 2 decades, municipalities outside the city boundary also experienced substantial growth and a considerable increase in the number of their residents relying on automobiles to commute to jobs in Calgary, showing the sign of regional sprawl. The growth challenges of the Calgary metro were felt increasingly more regionally over the years, creating a need for stronger regional growth management.

Planning for compact urban forms: local growth-management approaches and their evolution over time

Urban growth is a key issue for spatial planning as it influences urban patterns and disrupts open landscapes. To effectively steer urban growth towards compact urban forms, many growth-management policies have been developed over recent decades. However, few studies have assessed how municipal policy mixes have evolved over time. In our representative Swiss-wide survey, we evaluated the prevalence and the time of introduction of 18 policies. Our results indicate that large municipalities use a broad range of reinforcing policies over decades. In contrast, small municipalities mostly rely on conventional land-use regulations. The lack of innovative, incentive-based policies casts doubt on small municipalities' ability to effectively manage urban growth. However, our analyses reveal recent efforts by small municipalities to diversify approaches to growth management and adopt innovative policies. These efforts should be supported by guiding small municipalities in their policy choices, and providing support to those lacking planning capacity.

The End of Sprawl? Not so Fast

This article takes a careful look at the recent state of sprawl among America’s 178 largest metropolitan areas through the lens of four sets of questions: (a) Measured at the metropolitan level, is sprawl really declining? Is it declining everywhere, or just in selected metropolitan areas? (b) If sprawl is indeed declining, are more compact growth forms on the rise? (c) If sprawl is indeed declining, is it the result of antisprawl land use and development policies? (d) Which metropolitan-level land market, demographic, and economic factors are most associated with changes in sprawl? It concludes that sprawl is indeed declining when measured by average population densities, but that the decline has been much less widespread if measured in terms of population growth in core-area neighborhoods, changing density gradient intercept and slope estimates, and increased employment clustering. In terms of policy, it finds no evidence that local regulatory regimes or growth management programs have had any effect on sprawl, but finds that the consistent administration of local regulatory programs in ways that incentivize infill development and send consistent signals to developers does contribute to reduced sprawl.

Interest Groups, County Characteristics, and Local Growth Management Policy Instruments

The primary intent of this study is to investigate what factors drive local governments to implement growth management policy instruments. To answer this research question, this study chose Colorado counties, where local governments voluntarily adopt and implement growth management policy instruments. That means that a wide variation in growth management policy instrument implementation appears among Colorado???s local governments. That is to say, some counties more actively implement growth management policy instruments while the rest of counties do not. Utilizing a statistical tool, this article tests seven hypotheses based on the interest group model and county characteristics to empirically explicate this uneven implementation phenomenon of growth management policy instruments across Colorado. The analyzed results prove that counties with many anti-growth management policy interest groups are less likely to implement growth management policy instruments. In addition, the analyzed results demonstrate both that counties earning more income from tourism and counties with highly educated residents are more likely to implement growth management policy instruments, while counties supporting the Democratic Party are less likely to implement growth management policy instruments.

Alberta Cities at the Crossroads: Urban Development Challenges and Opportunities in Historical and Comparative Perspective

Fueled by the province’s booming energy sector, Alberta’s two largest cities have experienced unprecedented levels of growth. As a result, they face a choice about how to best accommodate their expanding populations — whether to grow out or grow up. For decades, Calgary and Edmonton accommodated almost all growth through the former, suburban expansion. Indeed, the postwar period was marked by a focus on contiguous outward growth to ensure housing affordability and the efficient use of infrastructure, a policy that was widely supported by both the public and the development industry.In Calgary, at least, this has started to change. Beginning in the late 1990s, the city shifted its focus to livability and sustainability, a move that saw policies introduced to promote urban intensification and greater transit use. While this shift has proven popular in many quarters, it also has its fair share of detractors, including many in the development industry. In Edmonton, a city where growth has been relatively slower and authority over urban development dispersed among several local governments, this policy shift has not occurred.Although it is too early to see clear results from this policy shift, a spatial analysis shows that the density of Calgary’s built-up urban area increased in the first decade of the 21st century. Relatively high-density suburban growth led Calgary to consume less land compared with the previous decade (2 ha per 100 new residents in 2001-2011 versus 6.5 ha in 1991-2001). This growth was accompanied by modest intensification in core areas, although the dwelling unit density of the urban area increased by more than the population density (18 per cent versus 14 per cent). Edmonton’s development is roughly similar: denser suburban growth has led to the more efficient consumption of rural land (3 ha per 100 new residents in the 2001-11 period versus 7 ha in 1991-2001). The built-up area has also intensified slightly, especially in areas near transit stations. By way of comparison, Vancouver with its long-standing urban containment policies, including the expansion limits represented by the Agricultural Land Reserve, grew mostly through intensification between 1991 and 2011. In Toronto, the second comparator city examined and one in which local growth management policies have existed since the 1980s, growth is now almost equally divided between intensification and suburban expansion.The analysis suggests that it is difficult to alter a deep-seated policy regime that promotes outward growth. What is more, high levels of intensification may not be enough to offset the effects of a new demographic reality: smaller average household size because of such factors as longer lifespans, delayed family formation, family planning and divorce. So even with a greater number of housing units, the population of the built-up area may still fall. Finally, if the emerging polycentric structures of Calgary and Edmonton are to be successfully supported, major investments in infrastructure are going to be required.

Introduction

Problem: Local, regional, and state growth management policy in the United States has been evolving since the 1950s, generally becoming much more comprehensive in how it addresses growth over time. Purpose: In this article, I describe the three historic phases of local, regional, and state approaches to managing growth in the United States since the 1950s. I then sketch the characteristics of the emerging fourth wave, one that must respond to challenges relating to economic development, climate change, and changing energy demands and supplies. Methods: Using a review of the literature and an assessment of the major trends shaping local, regional, and state land planning efforts, the article traces the evolution of growth management policy. Results and conclusions: Of the many changes land planning policy has experienced over time, the most telling is the shift in attitudes toward growth and development. For many decades growth management policy viewed development as a problem to be limited or managed, but in the last two decades planners have embraced new development as an opportunity for fixing past errors and addressing problems linked with growth. Takeaway for practice: Although smart growth remains an anchor for land planning policies and programs, approaches to managing growth will and must evolve in the coming years. Despite the many economic and political challenges faced by land planners and growth management advocates, there is much to be optimistic about as a new fourth wave of growth management emerges.

Green around the gills? The challenge of density for urban greenspace planning in SEQ

Australian cities exhibit a quality of life arguably among the best in the world, but rapidly expanding populations may soon threaten this status. The burgeoning conurbation of South East Queensland (SEQ) is an example. Recent growth management policies and plans (e.g. South East Queensland Regional Plan and local authority growth management strategies) have sought to curtail urban sprawl through urban footprints, growth management boundaries, urban consolidation, and other measures. The ‘density imperative’ presented by these collective urban policies affects the sourcing, provision and management of open space in inner-city locales in SEQ which may soon run out of land for parks and urban greenspace. This paper presents results from recent research into the environmental equity dimensions of providing urban greenspace in SEQ. Critiquing the long-entrenched parks-standards approach, the paper offers a ‘needs-based’ alternative, and considers its utility for SEQ and other fast-growing Australian urban areas. Questioning orthodox planning perspectives about who lives in higher density areas, we argue that local and state governments should look towards a variety of new types of green and open space to meet the needs of existing and future residents living in denser built environments.

Explaining Local Growth-Management Policies: The Role of Public Goods

Problem statement: Local jurisdictions such as cities and counties enact a wide variety of growth-management regulations, such as zoning ordinances and growth-promoting incentives. Approach: Use a theory of local public goods to identify the conditions under which jurisdictions are most likely to implement growth-management regulations. Predictions of the theory regarding variation in pro-growth measures across jurisdictions were tested using data on California cities. Results: Communities whose current expenditures on public amenities are high typically have more extensive growth-promoting policies, while communities that already have substantial public infrastructure in place are less likely to implement effective pro-growth measures. Conclusion: These findings suggest that changes in stocks and flows of public goods can be used as predictors of the incidence of growth controls.

The case for megapolitan growth management in the twenty‐first century

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate significant problems in the US' development pattern of regional automobile‐dependent sprawl and local growth management and to make suggestions about adopting a regional growth management model that might better provide for more sustainable development of the built environment.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews trends in the USA and elsewhere to determine the negative effects of the current system of sprawl and the potential benefits of developing higher‐density urban centers. The paper also looks to models in some US cities and Europe to further analyze potential legal and political issues related to this type of regional sustainable development.FindingsUnsustainable, automobile‐dependent regional sprawl is a result of local zoning, growth management, and parking programs and has negative effects both now and for the future. The result has been more time, money, and resources wasted in automobile transit instead of new planning models that would lead to a more sustainable and less automobile‐dependent future.Practical implicationsA metropolitan sustainable development governing framework for growth management in the twenty‐first century is essential for a sustainable future. This includes higher‐density urban centers, transit‐oriented development centers, and a change in public attitude away from “not in my back yard” thinking.Originality/valueThis paper provides the potential benefits of creating a metropolitan governing framework to identify and regulate “growth areas” in a region. It further demonstrates how linking these areas to regional transit planning will help achieve the development of higher‐density, mixed use, and intensive urban core job/housing areas where people could live, work, shop, and play without the use of the automobile.

Land Use in the Rural-Urban Interface: Subdivision Design

FOR-213, a 6-page illustrated fact sheet by Lauren McDonell, Martha C. Monroe, and Jay Tomlinson, describes new options for subdivision development and how citizens can help influence their local growth management and development plans by selecting opportunities that are appropriate for their area. Describes several exemplary Florida communities. Includes references. Published by the UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation, April 2009.

Sustainable development indicators: a case study on the city of Flagstaff and Coconino county

The application of capitalist theory and the perception of an autonomous economy have created a range of environmental and social ramifications not addressed via traditional economic reasoning. In order to effectively and efficiently abate sustainability issues, the sustainable development discourse developed evaluation methods such as sustainable development indicators to gauge progress towards sustainability in communities without using traditional cost–benefit methods of analysis. The indicators created in this work are intended to be applied as a method of project evaluation in local community development departments. Using local growth management policy as a basis, these indicators have been designed to show how a development project contributes to policy goals that relate to all three dimensions of sustainability: environmental, economic, and socio-economic.

Simulating Emergent Urban Form Using Agent-Based Modeling: Desakota in the Suzhou-Wuxian Region in China

We propose that the emergent phenomenon know as “desakota,” the rapid urbanization of densely populated rural populations in the newly developed world, particularly China, can be simulated using agent-based models that combine bottom-up actions with global interactions. We argue that desakota represents a surprising and unusual form of urbanization well-matched to processes of land development that are locally determined but moderated by the higher-level macroeconomy. We develop a simple logic that links local household reform to global urban reform, translating these ideas into a model structure that reflects these two scales. Our model first determines the rate of growth of different spatial aggregates using linear statistical analysis. It then allocates this growth to the local level using “developer agents” who determine the transformation or mutation of rural households to urban pursuits based on local land costs, accessibilities, and growth management practices. The model is applied to desakota development in the Suzhou region for the period 1990 to 2000. We show how the global rates of change predicted at the township level in the Wuxian City region surrounding Suzhou are tempered by local transformations of rural to urban land uses which we predict using cellular automata rules. The model is implemented in the RePast 3 software and is validated using a blend of data taken from remote sensing and government statistical sources. It represents an example of generative social science that fuses plausible behavior with formalized logics matched against empirical evidence, essential in showing how novel patterns of urbanization such as desakota emerge.

The Impacts of State Growth Management Programs on Urban Sprawl in the 1990S

ABSTRACT:The urban landscape in the United States has been characterized by sprawl for decades. Despite arguments in favor of sprawl or its component attributes, it is widely believed that sprawl leads to many contemporary United States urban and environmental problems. Since 1961, 15 states in the United States have adopted state growth management programs (SGMPs) with various goals, including curtailing sprawl. This article, among a few previous studies, examines the effectiveness of SGMPs on containing sprawl. We create sprawl indices for 294 metropolitan areas in 1990 and 2000, measuring two major dimensions of sprawl: density and land-use mixture. Our examination of SGMPs involves not only a dummy variable indicating whether a SGPM exists or not, but a score system measuring the degree of state involvement in local growth management and three variables measuring three major attributes of SGMPs. With the refined measurements for both sprawl and SGMPs, we examine the impacts of SGMPs on the sprawl measures in the 1990s of the selected metropolitan areas in the United States. Our statistical results show that SGMPs effectively promoted compact development in terms of population density and land-use mixture. However, the statistical results do not support the claim that SGMPs with a higher degree of state involvement in local growth management, on average, worked better at curtailing sprawl than those with a lower-degree involvement in the 1990s. This article suggests that state governments in the United States should more fully exercise their responsibilities to control urban sprawl rather than just leave this issue to local devices.

Growth Management Revisited: Efficacy, Price Effects, and Displacement

This article uses California as its lens to focus on three unresolved questions concerning the effectiveness of local growth control and management (LGC&M) programs. I conclude that some types of LGC&M programs, principally residential caps, annexation controls, and voter-enacted super-majority approval requirements, do appear to significantly limit population growth in the cities that adopt them. I also find that LGC&M programs that do not constrain housing production below their communities' shares of regional demand for housing are not principally responsible for high housing prices and rents. Finally, LGC&M programs are associated with an increased likelihood of infill development in the cities that adopt them, and with growth displacement to nearby communities.

Implementation of Growth Management Policy in Florida Cities: Zoning Approval and Regulatory Policy Enforcement

This study investigates the following two questions: to what extent do city governments engage in policy actions to restrict development and manage growth; and how do local political institutions shape the restrictiveness of local growth management? To answer these questions, this paper examines a broad set of government institutions extended to include the size and organization of city councils and standing committees. Our focus is on policy implementation rather than policy enactment and we apply the political market approach to examine how community demands and the political institutions of the supplier government influence how land use regulation is implemented. We focus on implementation of growth management as evidenced by zoning request approvals and regulatory enforcement. Theoretical framework includes the role of local institutions as supplier, political economy demands, and municipal context. For the hypotheses tests, we employ ordered-probit analysis.

State Growth Management and Housing Prices*

Objective. In the United States, growth regulations aimed at environmental protection and better‐quality urban areas have become very popular since the 1960s. Although many studies have examined the housing‐price effects of local and regional growth management regulations, none has examined the effects of a state law. Past research has also tended to be cross‐sectional, rather than longitudinal, and has frequently ignored alternate hypotheses that could explain housing‐price trends. The research presented in this article examines the housing‐price effects of Florida's Growth Management Act of 1985.Methods. Using secondary source data from all 67 counties of the state for the period 1980–1995 and employing pooled time‐series analysis techniques I test the hypothesis that the Act had an inflationary effect on single‐family house prices.Results. After controlling for alternate hypotheses such as population, income, and size of house, I find a statistically significant increase in the price of single‐family houses attributable to statewide growth management. Also, the demand‐side and supply‐side price inflationary effects of growth management are similar in magnitude.Conclusions. Since higher housing prices could become the Achilles heel of growth management programs and thwart their implementation, I suggest a few ways some of the price inflationary effects may be reduced.

Public policies for managing urban growth and protecting open space: policy instruments and lessons learned in the United States

The public sector in the United States has responded to growing concern about the social and environmental costs of sprawling development patterns by creating a wide range of policy instruments designed to manage urban growth and protect open space. These techniques have been implemented at the local, regional, state and, to a limited extent, national levels. This paper provides a systematic review of the extensive literature that describes these public policies and their implementation. The main public policy instruments for managing urban growth and protecting open space at various governmental levels are identified and briefly described, including public acquisition of land, regulatory approaches, and incentive-based approaches. Key lessons are gleaned from the literature on the implementation of growth management policies. Our assessment of lessons found: (1) a lack of empirical evaluations of growth management policies, (2) administrative efficiency and other details of policy implementation—rather than the general type of policy—are critical in determining their effectiveness, (3) the use of multiple policy instruments that reinforce and complement each other is needed to increase effectiveness and avoid unintended consequences, (4) vertical and horizontal coordination are critical for successful growth management but are often inadequate or lacking, and (5) meaningful stakeholder participation throughout the planning process and implementation is a cornerstone of effective growth management. Faced with a growing population and increasingly land consumptive development patterns, more effective policies and programs will be required to stem the tide of urban sprawl in the United States. We conclude with a discussion of potential federal roles in managing development and coordinating state, regional, and local growth management efforts.