ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the major features of planning and implementation which local governments are undertaking in response to the Washington Growth Management Act (GMA). It provides a case of a sustainability initiative undertaken by a state, rather than a national government, and illustrates the decentralization of prime responsibility from the state to local governments. In 1990, Washington State adopted the Growth Management Act, which requires cities and counties in rapidly growing areas of the state to prepare growth management plans that make sustainable urban development the principal focus of planning. The 1990 GMA directs cities and counties in high-growth areas to develop regional planning policies. Regions are defined as counties and also, in the case of the Puget Sound area, by the four-county metropolitan area consisting of King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap Counties. The Seattle metropolitan area surrounds the southern portion of Puget Sound, a deep-water inlet that provides for exceptional harbor facilities.
