Rarely Managing Growth: The Under-utilization of Land Use Policy Approaches

In the United States a common response by local government to the phenomenon of rapid growth is to utilize one or more of a range of public sector tools for land use planning. These tools are seen as having the possibility of bringing rationality and order to what often feels to be a disorderly, even out of control, process. In so doing, these tools are often also understood as allowing local government time to, literally, catch its breath as it considers the relative balance of costs and benefits that accompany the growth process.