Does It Pay to Plan Suburban Growth?

Abstract

This article compares the economic results of planned community development with those of unplanned development for a 7,500-acre site in Houston, Texas. The comparison indicates that planned development produces higher net benefits than unplanned development does for all three cost areas investigated—land development costs, transportation costs, and social costs—and that the difference in benefits is greatest in the area of transportation costs. The magnitude of the difference is small, however—on the order of 1 percent to 3 percent of total costs. The results raise questions about how high the costs of sprawl development really are, but suggest where efforts to reduce those costs can be the most beneficial, particularly in transportation planning.