ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a regional perspective on environmental problems in metropolitan areas. It also describes how the federal, state, and city governments deal with negative externalities and internal pressures that affect urban land, air, and water pollution issues. Protecting the environment requires cooperation among local governments and collaboration with NGOs. The chapter examines several approaches to alleviating environmental problems at the metropolitan level. Economist Anthony Downs argues that growth-related problems in metropolitan areas, such as traffic congestion, affordable housing, air pollution, solid-waste disposal, retention of open space, and siting locally undesirable land uses, must be addressed on a regional basis if the region hopes to solve these problems. Indeed, in order to deal with the negative externalities of air pollution, metropolitan areas need the involvement of higher-level governments. Vision 2030 focuses on spatial planning, the issues of growth and fragmentation, public transportation, economic planning, environmental planning, and transportation planning.
