construction of residential subdivisions on the outskirts of the current urban area, resulting in more roads

and other municipal services per household. Zoning restrictions and financial incentives also have been

policy instruments promoted in an effort to reduce work trip lengths (reducing regional VMT), and there 

fore as a means of creating a better jobs to housing balance within specific suburbs.

133

Many jobs are now found in higher density suburban activity centers, which appear to have arisen

as a natural response to increased travel times associated with traffic congested suburb to central city

trips.

134

Many of these centers have now become small  edge cities  in their own right.

135

Figure 13 shows

two examples of the spread of employment concentrations throughout metropolitan areas such as Los

Angeles and the Washington Baltimore regions, leading to the gradual absorption of surrounding towns and

the spaces between them, creating ribbon like urbanized areas spanning 100 miles from end to end. 

Over the past decade, many

Figure 13

states, as well as individual planning

Metropolitan Area   

Employment Distribution 

districts and metropolitan areas, have

begun to enact anti sprawl legislation

based on spatially defined growth

Baltimore

Washington

management strategies. This legislation

+

area

may take the form of urban growth

boundaries that place geographic

limits on urban area expansion; or the

imposition of  concurrency require 

ments  that ensure adequate provision

of municipal services such as power

and water prior to new residential or

other forms of building develop 

+

ment.

136

A variety of financial incen 

tives have also been tried, including

Los Angeles area

the use of developer impact fees, local

Source: U.S. Census Bureau Zip Code Area database, 1997

and regional business tax incentives,

42

+

Towards a Climate Friendly  

Built Environment