Urban containment and neighborhood quality in Florida

Rapid suburbanization since World War II in America has created many of the challenges we face today. Roads intended to relieve congestion have become congested. Cookie-cutter subdivisions have replaced scenic landscapes. Once-vital downtown stores have been abandoned as shoppers transferred their allegiance to convenient suburban malls. The spread of low-density residential development made public transit impractical, making the automobile virtually the only choice for transportation. Automobile dependence has degraded the air in some places to alarming levels. Once-tranquil communities with their own unique character have been overwhelmed by more people, automobiles, and shopping centers. But the problem is not growth per se; the problem is how to manage growth in ways that minimize costs and maximize benefits to both individuals and the public at large. Urban containment is an attempt to confront the reasonable development needs of the community, region, or state, and accommodate them in a manner that preserves public goods, minimizes fiscal burdens, minimizes adverse interactions between land uses while maximizing positive ones, improves the equitable distribution of the benefits of growth, and enhances quality of life. At its heart, urban containment aims to achieve these goals by choreographing public infrastructure investment, land use and development regulation, and deployment of incentives and disincentives to influence the rate, timing, intensity, mix, and location of growth. Broadly speaking, urban containment programs can be distinguished from traditional approaches to land use regulation by policies that are explicitly designed to limit the development of land outside a defined urban area, while encouraging infill development and redevelopment inside it.