Urban Planning and Environment- Urban Sprawl in Western Europe and the United States

Urban sprawl has become one of the key planning issues. Bringing together a team of leading scholars, this book compares how urban sprawl has developed in Western Europe and the USA, as well as the policies that have been developed and implemented to control it.



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.