Courting LULUs: Characteristics of suitor and objector communities

This research examines nonmetropolitan places most likely to support or opp ose proposals for locally undesirable land uses (LULUs) involving waste man agement facilities. Two hypotheses are tested: (1) that relatively remote c ommunities of lower socioeconomic status will be less likely to oppose such proposals; and (2) that support for such proposals is widespread among non metropolitan communities because of growth machine activities. Using key in formants and secondary data for 166 nonmetropolitan Pennsylvania places, we find that local growth promotion, especially efforts to promote business a nd industry, is related positively to community experience with plant closi ngs and to proposals for these LULUs. Where these proposals are made, commu nity opposition tends to be present as well, particularly in larger communi ties and, surprisingly, in those of lower socioeconomic status. The signifi cance of these findings is discussed in terms of the growth machine and the opposition they can provoke to protect the use value of land in a single n onmetropolitan region.