The Impact of Environmental Mandates on Urban GrowthAbstractDuring the second half of the 20th century, national domestic policies focussed on stimulating and supporting economic development. Urban growth spread outward from city centers and automobile transportation increased. During the 1960s and early 1970s, the potential environmental impacts of these settlement patterns stimulated the enactment of many Federal statutes to protect the environment. These statutes generated detailed rules and regulations that required individual project permits, resulting in conflict and costly processes to reconcile developmental and environmental objectives.A number of mechanisms are available for bridging the development/environmental gap. Nevertheless, environmental mandates may relate poorly to State and local planning programs and often do not require sufficient mitigation or ensure that project plans, once completed, will be implemented. These issues can be overcome by formulation of a standardized, focussed planning process that can reconcile the aims of environmental statutes with development concerns. The Impact of Environmental Mandates on Urban Growth (*.pdf, 131 KB)
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