Introduction
Suburban sprawl has become a hot topic across the United States, and is even affecting such federal
policies as the Vice President?s open spaces initiative. I have written one book on this subject—New
Visions for Metropolitan America—and I am now working with several other analysts on a
comprehensive federally-funded study called The Costs of Sprawl—Revisited. This article presents my
overall perspective on this subject—a topic much more complex than most commentators recognize.

Economic Development
As 2024 deadline approaches, local governments have committed the bulk of their American Rescue Plan dollars