For decades the land area growth American urban areas has been much greater than the population growth. This geographic expansion is often attributed to increasing dependence upon the automobile and the construction of the interstate highway (freeway) system. A relatively new school of urban planners, "the new urbanists" blame a number of problems on the expanding urban area, including increased traffic congestion, higher air pollution, the decline of central cities and a reduction in valuable agricultural land (new urbanist policies also go by the label "smart growth"). Moreover, new urbanists believe that more spacious urban areas typical of the United States are inherently inefficient relative to more compact cities, exhibiting higher costs for infrastructure and public services.

Mythical Underpinnings: A fundamental problem with the "new urbanist" formula is that most of the facts and assumptions on which it is based are patently false.

• 1. There is a strong relationship between urban sprawl and air pollution --- but not the one the new urbanists suggest. In the United States, air pollution tends to increase with population density.

• 2. Similarly, traffic congestion tends to be worse in higher density urban areas

• 3. Work trip travel times have decreased since 1969.

• 4. Agricultural land is not being lost to urbanization. Since 1950, increased agricultural productivity has caused agricultural land to be taken out of production at a much greater rate than that of urbanization.

It can be expected that the results of "new urbanist" or smart growth policies will be the opposite of what is promised: more serious traffic congestion, increased air pollution and more time spent commuting to work. DEMOGRAPHIA specializes in analyzing and critiquing the local policies of new urbanism and smart growth, and in proposing alternative policies that improve both the standard of living and the quality of life.

Complete documentation for data in the above article will be found in the following article:
The President's New Urban Sprawl Initiative: Program in Search of a Problem (990324)