ABSTRACT
However, Phoenix is an especially good case study on sprawl due to its size, its various attempts to address the problems of sprawl, and its dramatic boom-and-bust growth swings since the mid-twentieth century. Sprawl-related policy debates in Phoenix are ongoing, and the readers offer an outline of Phoenix's past, present, and future in hopes that policymakers, once and for all, get serious about addressing sprawl. Concentrating development where schools, roads, and sewer lines are already in place and reinvesting in older communities instead of abandoning them is critical to limiting sprawl. If Phoenix and other desert communities are to address urban sprawl, live sustainably, and better protect and live in the desert, it will require significant leadership from elected officials, business interests, neighborhoods, and environmental and civic organizations. Phoenix demonstrates all too well the downside of denying the environment in developing communities as well as the significant costs associated with sprawl.
