Tackling Urban Sprawl with Smart Growth

By Clive Harridge

A U.S. Perspective

Sunday morning at 8.30 and over 2,000 planners attending the opening session of a conference? Yes — it really happened — in Denver at the 2003 American Planning Association (APA) conference. The statistics are astounding — over 4,000 delegates, over 80 workshop tours, over 200 conference sessions, plus many other visits and events, and a large exhibition.

The APA annual conference is the world's biggest planning conference by far. Working out what was happening where, at any one time, was quite a challenge in itself.

Well the 8:30 a.m. start was excellent with the opening address by Professor Jerome L. Kaufman speaking on "Major Planning Challenges Moving into the 21st Century." I was surprised that the U.S. perspective on planning challenges is not so far removed from our own, that is resurrecting the role of planners as visionaries; tackling sprawl; revitalising older central cities; achieving effective regionalism; understanding globalism; connecting planning to the community food system.

I was struck by Kaufman's call for planners to take on the role of visionaries — the RTPIs New Vision for Planning came to mind. However, Kaufman saw tensions between planners building consensus and planners as visionaries — a consensus approach waters down vision. He said we need to remind ourselves of our visionary history (for example, Mumford, Davidoff, Jacobs) and resurrect the visionary tradition. Kaufman saw a visionary approach involving a better world where there are opportunities for all, where there is protection of the natural environment and where account is taken of the long range consequences of our actions. At this point I was waiting for the "S" word to appear — but it didn't. In fact sustainability was barely mentioned at all during the conference — quite a contrast with any recent UK planning conference.

The official conference theme, "Making Great Communities Happen," was largely lost in the myriad of events, but for me a common thread was that of "Tackling Urban Sprawl with Smart Growth." Tackling sprawl was also high on Kaufman's list of challenges. In summary, smart growth has three elements — safeguarding rural land around urban areas, encouraging infill development and urban regeneration, and developing transportation systems that reduce dependency on the car. Smart growth is being promoted by the APA and other organisations throughout the U.S., but its ability to tackle urban sprawl will be limited in the absence of a national planning framework and the lack of significant regional/strategic planning. The challenge is substantial however; the population of the U.S. is forecast to increase by 45 percent to reach 403 million in 2050. There are also significant political and structural constraints to overcome — not least those related to a tax system which leads to authorities competing to accommodate new development to secure tax revenue through development taxes — a far cry from greenbelt and countryside protection in the UK.

The U.S. focus on planning at the community level was reflected in a wide range of sessions on different aspects and techniques of public participation. There were interesting debates on the relative merits of hi-touch and hi-tech techniques — the former using flipcharts, games and physical models, the latter involving computer based modelling; perhaps not surprisingly a combination of the two appeared the most effective approach.

I spoke on themes in British planning (planning reform, sustainable development and accommodating growth) in a session on the RTPI/APA Exchange Programme. (This programme is based on hosting a USA planner for two to three weeks and being hosted in the U.S. for a similar period. Participants pay their own travel expenses but stay in each other's homes free of charge. The programme provides an excellent opportunity to gain insight into planning in the USA. For further details please contact Judith Eversley at the Institute: judith.eversley@rtpi.org.uk.)

My presentation led to much discussion on the UK planning system — the notion of national planning guidance as we have it in the UK was seen by many as an anathema and completely unworkable in the U.S. The shortage of planners in the UK also attracted much interest — so be prepared for U.S. planners applying for your next job vacancies.

My own participation in the exchange programme involved visits to St. Louis and Chicago. My exchange partner visited England for a couple of weeks last autumn when I arranged for him to meet planners in London and the West Midlands. I found the exchange programme highly rewarding and would recommend it to all.

One of the conference workshops was based on planning Colfax Avenue. This is one of the longest commercial streets in America stretching nearly 30 miles from end to end: classic ribbon development dating from the early years of the 20th century. Colfax Avenue is the historic main street of the Denver area with a range of inner-city and suburban challenges and opportunities. New mixed-use developments are being encouraged to revitalise rundown parts, and on-street landscaping is helping secure environmental improvements.

About 20 miles from Denver, Boulder is located on the very edge of the Rocky Mountains. The city with a population of about 103,000 has had a growth management system since 1976 which now limits city growth to one percent pa. The city has an impressive network of preserved and protected open space. The city was the first in the U.S. to pass a sales tax to be used for the acquisition and management of open space. The open space forms a buffer around the city and has helped it establish its own separate identity distinct from neighbouring communities. Over $150 million has been spent on the acquisition of such space.

Flying out of Denver above examples of massive urban sprawl I reflected on the conference experience. It was impressive in scale, and yes, it was impressive in content. The conference revealed to me that planners in the UK and the U.S. share common aspirations and challenges but tackle them in very different ways. There is much to learn from each others' experience to help make great communities happen, whether in the USA or UK.

Clive Harridge is Director of Entec UK Limited.

This article appeared first in the British journal Planning of the Royal Town Planning Institute in June 2003 (www.rtpi.org.uk/resources/news-in-planning/2003/q2/1523/152301.html). The author is interested in receiving comments from U.S. planners. Contact him at: harrc@entecuk.co.uk.