ABSTRACT
Beginning in the 1930s, the city of Portland faced uncontrolled suburbanization and deterioration of the environment. By the 1960s, the situation had become so bad that Portlanders realized they needed to act rapidly and effectively to counter the damaging trends. From the late 1960s onward, they started to strongly and systematically address the challenges of growth management, developing and adopting what has since then been widely considered state-of-the-art thinking in urban planning. Portland devised a land-use program that aimed to plan for anticipated growth with minimal sacrifice of the environment and of the state's economy, and at the least possible cost to individuals, developers, and governments. As a result of those efforts, today Portland is considered one the most livable middle-sized cities in the United States.
