Urban Sprawl and Rural Landscapes: Perceptions of landscape as amenity in Portland, Oregon

Abstract

In the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan region, an urban growth boundary (UGB) was established in 1979 to protect farm and forest lands from urban encroachment. Most of the literature on the impact of Oregon's land-use legislation has been on the urban side of the issue—primarily the relative success Portland has had in containing urban sprawl. The landscape component of this rural transformation is typically considered only as a passive backdrop to urban expansion. Portland provides an excellent site to examine the relationship city-dwellers have to nearby agricultural areas. Rapid urban growth in the 1990s pushed suburban development to the edge of the UGB creating stark contrasts between urban and rural land uses in parts of the metropolitan area. This study examines the impact of the UGB on rural landscape change in Portland. We combine findings from land-use analysis and surveys of urban and rural residents to suggest ways to merge the amenity values of landscape with planning policy regarding the UGB.