Awards

• Short-listed for Donner Prize for best book in Canadian public policy, The Donner Foundation 2011 (Canada)

Overview

Urban sprawl – low-density subdivisions and business parks, big box stores and mega-malls – has increasingly come to define city growth despite decades of planning and policy. Most urbanists view sprawl as an expensive and unsustainable pattern of development. Yet a few defend it as simply a reflection of consumers’ lifestyle preferences. In Perverse Cities, Pamela Blais argues that both views fail to recognize the market distortions and flawed policy that drive sprawl. Crude public policies and mis-pricing create hidden, “perverse” subsidies and incentives that promote sprawl while discouraging more efficient and sustainable urban forms – clearly not what most planners and environmentalists have in mind. Blais makes the case that accurate pricing and better policy are fundamental to curbing urban sprawl and shows how this can be achieved in practice through a range of market-oriented tools that promote efficient, sustainable cities.

Full Product Details

Author:   Pamela Blais
Publisher:   University of British Columbia Press
Imprint:   University of British Columbia Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.440kg
ISBN:  

9780774818964

ISBN 10:   0774818964
Pages:   294
Publication Date:   29 March 2011
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface 1 The Price of Sprawl Part 1: The Planning Problem 2 Sprawl: A Planning Problem 3 The Costs and Benefits of Sprawl Part 2: The Problem with Planning 4 The Costs and Benefits of Planning 5 How Do Our Cities Grow? Plans versus Reality 6 Prices Drive Sprawl Part 3: Subsidies, Cross-Subsidies, and Mis-Incentives: How Public Policy Finances Sprawl 7 Municipal Services: Costs and Prices 8 Network Services: Costs and Prices 9 Housing, Infrastructure, and Energy: More Mis-Pricing and Mis-Incentives 10 Driving Sprawl: Pricing and Policy Mis-Incentives Part 4: What to Do 11 Principles for a Market-Oriented Approach 12 A Toolbox of Market-Oriented Instruments 13 Perverse Subsidies, Perverse Cities Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

This highly practical book will give urban policy makers a better understanding of the implications of a number of tools available to them. It is a welcome addition to the debate over the use of regulatory policy as opposed to tax/subsidy measures to address land use issues and outcomes. <br> - David Amborski, Professor, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University

Analytical and detailed in its approach and consistently daring in challenging accepted views of the causes of and solutions for urban sprawl. -- Donner Prize Jury

Author Information

Pamela Blais is a city planner and principal of Toronto-based Metropole Consultants.

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