Urban Sprawl: Policies for Containment and Cost Recoupment

Authors

Roy W. Bahl, Georgia State UniversityFollow
Michael McGuire

Author ORCID Identifier

Roy Bahl: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7956-5076

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

1977

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to offer, in a very preliminary form, a general framework for the evaluation and identification of the effects of alternative land use controls·, tax measures, and user charges on the set of decisions which lead to sprawl. In particular, we attempt to explore two points: that only distance related charges can both recoup costs and constrain sprawl, and that existing tax programmes may do little to contain sprawl. We consider the alternative forms of sprawl, and, to illustrate the nature and magnitude of the costs involved, we present the results of a case study of the incremental public costs associated with a particular form of urban sprawl. We then construct and use a crude model to suggest how alternative public policies might play on the decisions of the potential home buyer, the developer, and the land speculator.

Comments

(c) University of British Columbia Press, 1977.

Posted by permission of the publisher.

Recommended Citation

Bahl, Roy W., and J. Michael McGuire. “Urban Sprawl: Policies for Containment and Cost Recoupment” in Local Service Pricing Policies and their Effects on Urban Spatial Structure, 247-266 edited by Paul B. Downing, Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1977.