Urban sprawl: Diagnosis and remedies

This article argues that urban spatial expansion results mainly from three powerful forces: a growing population, rising incomes, and falling commutin g costs. Urban growth occurring purely in response to these fundamental for ces cannot be faulted as socially undesirable, but three market failures ma y distort their operation upsetting the allocation of land between agricult ural and urban uses and justifying criticism of urban sprawl These are the failure to account for the benefits of open space, excessive commuting beca use of a failure to account for the social costs of congestion and failure to make new development pay for fire infrastructure costs it generates. Pre cise remedies for these market failures are two types of development taxes and congestion tolls levied on commuters. Each of these remedies leads to a reduction in the spatial size of the city.