Public Policy Analytics

2

Expanding the Urban Growth Boundary

DOI: 10.1201/9781003054658-2

2.1 Introduction - Lancaster development

Cheap housing, cheap gas, and a preference for ‘country living' have lured American families to the suburbs for decades, but at what cost?

Development patterns that promote lengthy car commutes and oversized ‘McMansions' are generally not sustainable. We know that sprawl generates air and water pollution and degrades the quality of ecosystem services - but what about economic competitiveness?

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, a lush, rolling agricultural county 60 miles west of Philadelphia, has been wrestling with sprawl for more than three decades, as new development swallows up the farms that help drive the local economy. The rate ...