“The Causes of Sprawl”

Local government in metropolitan areas of the United States is fragmented into dozens or hundreds of separate cities and counties. Professor Myron Orfield distinguishes among six types of suburbs, three of which he considers to be at risk. He named the three types of at-risk suburbs: at-risk segregated communities, at-risk older communities, and at-risk low-density communities. He named the three other types as bedroom-developing communities, affluent job centers, and very affluent job centers. The close relationship between racially segregated communities and areas of concentrated poverty has been used to support flawed conclusions about African Americans and Latinos. Thus, white flight invariably means poverty. Orfield makes the case for equalizing revenue and services across jurisdictions, and suggests many reforms that will promote greater fiscal equity in metropolitan regions. Effective regional land-use reform hinges on three elements: coordinated infrastructure planning, a regional housing plan, and regional review and coordination of local planning. He also summarizes a theory of metropolitics.