Urban Sprawl in Western Europe and the United States
ISBN: 9781315235226
Platform/Publisher: Taylor & Francis / Routledge
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Built Environment; Geography; Planning; Human Geography; Population Geography; Regional Geography - Human Geography;

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.


Harry W. Richardson holds the James Irvine Chair of Urban and Regional Planning at the School of Policy, Planning and Development, University of Southern California, USA. Dr Chang-Hee Christine Bae is Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington, USA.
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