Save the Cities, Stop the Suburbs?

Authors

Nicole Stelle Garnett, Notre Dame Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2006

Publication Information

116 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 192 (2006).

Abstract

The fact that the word “sprawl” is uttered by curling the upper lip into a snarl captures some of the emotion generated by the current debate over American land use policy. Two recent books— Robert Bruegmann’s defense of sprawl and Joel Kotkin’s ambitious but short history of great cities provide an opportunity to consider sprawl’s costs and benefits, and also to examine the case for legal efforts to curtail it in order to save our cities. These are important questions because, as Bruegmann demonstrates, calls for “stopping” sprawl may proceed from serious misconceptions about its extent, causes, and consequences; they also may systematically underestimate the risks that attend growth management.

Recommended Citation

Nicole S. Garnett, Save the Cities, Stop the Suburbs?, 116 Yale L.J. Pocket Part 192 (2006)..
Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1590