Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest

Land-use policy is at the center of suburban political economies because everything has to happen somewhere but nothing happens by itself. In Suburb, Royce Hanson explores how well a century of strategic land-use decisions served the public interest in Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Transformed from a rural hinterland into the home a million people and a half-million jobs, Montgomery County built a national reputation for innovation in land use policy—including inclusive zoning, linking zoning to master plans, preservation of farmland and open space, growth management, and transit-oriented development.A pervasive theme of Suburb involves the struggle for influence over land use policy between two virtual suburban republics. Developers, their business allies, and sympathetic officials sought a virtuous cycle of market-guided growth in which land was a commodity and residents were customers who voted with their feet. Homeowners, environmentalists, and their allies saw themselves as citizens and stakeholders with moral claims on the way development occurred and made their wishes known at the ballot box. In a book that will be of particular interest to planning practitioners, attorneys, builders, and civic activists, Hanson evaluates how well the development pattern produced by decades of planning decisions served the public interest.

1125115275
Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest

Land-use policy is at the center of suburban political economies because everything has to happen somewhere but nothing happens by itself. In Suburb, Royce Hanson explores how well a century of strategic land-use decisions served the public interest in Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Transformed from a rural hinterland into the home a million people and a half-million jobs, Montgomery County built a national reputation for innovation in land use policy—including inclusive zoning, linking zoning to master plans, preservation of farmland and open space, growth management, and transit-oriented development.A pervasive theme of Suburb involves the struggle for influence over land use policy between two virtual suburban republics. Developers, their business allies, and sympathetic officials sought a virtuous cycle of market-guided growth in which land was a commodity and residents were customers who voted with their feet. Homeowners, environmentalists, and their allies saw themselves as citizens and stakeholders with moral claims on the way development occurred and made their wishes known at the ballot box. In a book that will be of particular interest to planning practitioners, attorneys, builders, and civic activists, Hanson evaluates how well the development pattern produced by decades of planning decisions served the public interest.

39.99 In Stock
Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest

Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest

by Royce Hanson
Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest

Suburb: Planning Politics and the Public Interest

by Royce Hanson

eBook

$39.99 

Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
WANT A NOOK?  Explore Now

Related collections and offers


Overview

Land-use policy is at the center of suburban political economies because everything has to happen somewhere but nothing happens by itself. In Suburb, Royce Hanson explores how well a century of strategic land-use decisions served the public interest in Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Transformed from a rural hinterland into the home a million people and a half-million jobs, Montgomery County built a national reputation for innovation in land use policy—including inclusive zoning, linking zoning to master plans, preservation of farmland and open space, growth management, and transit-oriented development.A pervasive theme of Suburb involves the struggle for influence over land use policy between two virtual suburban republics. Developers, their business allies, and sympathetic officials sought a virtuous cycle of market-guided growth in which land was a commodity and residents were customers who voted with their feet. Homeowners, environmentalists, and their allies saw themselves as citizens and stakeholders with moral claims on the way development occurred and made their wishes known at the ballot box. In a book that will be of particular interest to planning practitioners, attorneys, builders, and civic activists, Hanson evaluates how well the development pattern produced by decades of planning decisions served the public interest.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781501708077
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publication date: 03/07/2017
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 328
File size: 3 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Royce Hanson is Research Professor at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy. He is the author of many books, including most recently Civic Culture and Urban Change: Governing Dallas and Tribune of the People: The Minnesota Legislature and Its Leadership.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Learning from a Century of Planning Politics1. Planning Politics2. On Wedges and Corridors3. Retrofitting Suburbia4. The Death and Life of Silver Spring5. The End of Suburbia?6. Trials in Corridor City Planning7. Errors in Corridor City Planning8. The Agricultural Reserve9. Growth Pains and Policy10. The Public Interest Conclusion: The Importance of Planning and Politics

What People are Saying About This

Parris N. Glendening

Royce Hanson tells this story of some of the great innovations, breakthroughs, and visions in planning and zoning in America with passion and extraordinary insight. Suburb tells us as much about the future of suburban America as it does about conflicting views of public and private interests, land use, and zoning in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Christopher Silver

Suburb is a meticulously researched and expertly crafted assessment of Montgomery County, Maryland, as it developed over the past century. Royce Hanson's account is focused largely on land use policy as he tracks the ebb and flow of power in decision making. He demarcates the changing coalitions that ruled and determined how the county developed and who benefited from their decisions. Hanson effectively interjects his own experiences as a civic leader in Montgomery County to underscore his assessments of key decisions surrounding planning and development.

Jim Cohen

In Suburb, Royce Hanson presents the history of planning in a jurisdiction that has a national reputation for land use planning. Having served as chair of the planning board of Montgomery County, Maryland, for part of the 1970s and the years between 2006 and 2010, Hanson has a long-term perspective on the ways that planners and elected officials have approached challenges related to the county's growth and development for the past several decades. Suburb will be a valuable resource for residents, planners, government officials, and developers as well as historians and political scientists.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews