Environmental Problems, Their Causes, and Sustainability 1

Limits and RegulationsLimit building permitsUrban growth boundariesGreenbelts around citiesPublic review of newdevelopmentZoningEncourage mixed useConcentrate developmentalong mass transportationroutesPromote high-density clusterhousing developmentsPlanningEcological land-useplanningEnvironmental impactanalysisIntegrated regionalplanningState and national planningSolutionsSmart Growth ToolsProtectionPreserve existing open spaceBuy new open spaceBuy development rights that prohibitcertain types of development on landparcelsTaxesTax land, not buildingsTax land on value of actual use (suchas forest and agriculture) instead ofhighest value as developed landTax BreaksFor owners agreeing legally to notallow certain types of development(conservation easements)For cleaning up and developingabandoned urban sites (brownfields)Revitalization and New GrowthRevitalize existing towns and citiesBuild well-planned new towns andvillages within citiesFigure 25-16 Solutions: smart growth or new urbanism tools used to prevent and controlurban growth and sprawl.Since the mid-1970s, Oregon has hada comprehensive statewide land-useplanning process based on three administrativedecisions:■ To permanently zone all ruralland in Oregon as forest, agricultural,or urban land■ To draw an urban growth linearound each community in thestate, with no urban developmentallowed outside the boundary■ To place control over land-useplanning in state hands through theLand Conservation andDevelopment CommissionNot surprisingly, the last actionhas been the most controversial. It isbased on the idea that public goodtakes precedence over private propertyrights—a well-established principlein most European countriesbut generally opposed in the UnitedStates.Oregon’s plan has worked becauseit is not designed to “just sayno” to development. Instead, it encouragescertain kinds of development,such as dense urban developmentthat helps prevent destructionof croplands, wetlands, and biodiversityin the surrounding area.Because of the plan, most of thestate’s rural areas remain undeveloped.Before these land-use andplanning laws, the state lost about12,100 hectares (30,000 acres) ofagricultural land a year; now it isonly losing about 810 hectares (2,000acres) a year.discourage car use and encourage people to live closerto workplaces and shops. High taxes on heating fuelalso encourage people to live in apartments and smallhouses. Governments have used most of the resultinggasoline and heating fuel tax revenues to develop efficienttrain and other mass transit systems within andbetween cities.Solutions: Land-Use Planning in Oregon—Control from the TopOregon has zoned rural land to prevent environmentaldegradation, controlled urban growth,and put land-use planning in the hands of stateofficials.How Can Urban Open Space Be Preservedand Used? Be Protective and CreativeSmall and large parks, greenbelts, urban growthboundaries, cluster development, and greenwayscan be used to preserve open space.One way to preserve open space outside a city is toemploy Oregon’s urban growth boundary model, usedalso in the states of Washington and Tennessee. A moretraditional way is to preserve significant blocks ofopen space in the form of municipal parks. CentralPark in New York City, Golden Gate Park in SanFrancisco, and Grant Park in Chicago are examples oflarge urban parks. Many European cities also havelarge- and medium-size parks.578 CHAPTER 25 Sustainable Cities