Offering a balanced overview, "Urban Sprawl" marshals the facts, sorts out the benefits and the drawbacks, and withholds judgment. This even-handed, up to date survey of contemporary urban development in America examines how and why a growing number of citizens are expressing concern over urban sprawl.

It explains why urban development has been so haphazard, why farmland losses involve the best soil, how effective local governments have been in controlling development, what effect growth restrictions have on housing costs, if sprawl really threatens our food production, how to achieve...

"Global Urban Growth: A Reference Handbook" examines urbanization and the challenges associated with rapid urban growth and urban sprawl from a truly global perspective, rather than presenting only a limited exploration of the subject by addressing a single city, country, or region.

Investigating urbanization and related policy challenges as both a general phenomenon of all modern societies and one that varies greatly in different regions of the world, the book charts different growth trajectories in these societies and varying policy responses. Significant variations in culture,...