ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors analyze the pattern of urban development in Orange County in three ways. First, they construct measures of urban form for five metropolitan areas across the United States: Orange County, Florida; Maricopa County, Arizona; Montgomery County, Maryland; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; and Portland, Oregon. Then the authors divide each of the metropolitan areas into neighborhoods—defined by traffic analysis zones —and compute several measures of urban form for each neighborhood. In their second approach, they identify all the single-family homes constructed in Orange County in 2000 and measures the urban form characteristics of the neighborhoods, in which these new homes are located. In the authors third approach they estimate the date when each neighborhood in Orange County was built and examine trends in urban development patterns in these neighborhoods over time. Orange County has a growth boundary and, like all places in Florida, has an elaborate concurrency policy that limits development until adequate public facilities are in place.
