This report examines the relationships between zoning and housing in six metropolitan areas. Using census and GIS data, the authors found indicators of zoning regulations and housing market performance in Boston; Miami-Dade County; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Portland; Sacramento; and Washington, D.C. They evaluated state statutes and regional and local plans in each metropolitan. The result is documentary evidence that exclusionary zoning is a significant barrier to higher-density, multifamily housing, which is often--but not always--more affordable than single-family housing. The CD-ROM included with the report includes detailed information on research methodology and data sources and summarizes the literature and public-policy document review undertaken by the authors.

Since publication of the groundbreaking Encyclopedia of Housing in 1998, many issues have assumed special prominence within this field and, indeed, within the global economy. For instance, the global economic meltdown was spurred in large part by the worst subprime mortgage crisis we’ve seen in our history. On a more positive note, the sustainability movement and “green” development has picked up considerable steam and, given the priorities and initiatives of the current U.S. administration, this will only grow in importance, and increased attention has been given in recent years to the topic of indoor air quality. Within the past decade, as well, the Baby Boom Generation began its march into retirement and senior citizenship, which will have increasingly broad implications for retirement communities and housing, assisted living facilities, aging in place, livable communities, universal design, and the like. Finally, within the last twelve years an emerging generation of young scholars has been making significant contributions to the field. For all these reasons and more, we are pleased to present a significantly updated and expanded Second Edition of The Encyclopedia of Housing.

Urban sprawl has gained much national attention in recent years. Sprawl involves not only land-use issues but also legal, political, and social concerns. It affects our schools, the environment, and race relations. Comprehensive enough for high school students and also appropriate for college undergraduates, Remaking American Communities delves into the challenges of urban sprawl by turning to some of America's top thinkers on the problem, including Robert Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association. Other cutting-edge essays include a foreword about the emergence of sprawl by nationally syndicated columnist Neal Peirce, views about race and class by former mayor of Albuquerque David Rusk, and a discussion of transportation dynamics by Curtis Johnson, president of the Citistates Group. ø The essays in this collection explore the core issues of sprawl and the agenda for dealing with it. Complete with a glossary, resources, and contact information for smart-growth alliances, this book is extremely user-friendly. David C. Soule offers an unbiased viewpoint of this national phenomenon in a way that will be accessible to students and those with little background in the issue.

This report presents an overview of trends in urban policies in OECD countries with the objective to identify successes and failure that could inform national Chinese policy-makers in their preparation of an Urbanisation Strategy.

This volume embodies a problem-driven and theoretically informed approach to bridging frontier research in urban economics and urban/regional planning. The authors focus on the interface between these two subdisciplines that have historically had an uneasy relationship. Although economists were among the early contributors to the literature on urban planning, many economists have been dismissive of a discipline whose leading scholars frequently favor regulations over market institutions, equity over efficiency, and normative prescriptions over positive analysis. Planners, meanwhile, even as they draw upon economic principles, often view the work of economists as abstract, not sensitive to institutional contexts, and communicated in a formal language spoken by few with decision making authority. Not surprisingly, papers in the leading economic journals rarely cite clearly pertinent papers in planning journals, and vice versa. Despite the historical divergence in perspectives and methods, urban economics and urban planning share an intense interest in many topic areas: the nature of cities, the prosperity of urban economies, the provision of urban services, efficient systems of transportation, and the proper allocation of land between urban and environmental uses. In bridging this gap, this book highlights the best scholarship in planning and economics that addresses the most pressing urban problems of our day and will stimulate further dialog between scholars in urban planning and urban economics.