10 
INTRODUCTION 
Tore Roue or STATE GOVERNMENT IN GuipiInc URBAN GrowTH 
AND DEVELOPMENT 
Kach of us pays for the inefficient and inequitable patterns of urban 
development that currently mar the landscape. As metropolitan areas 
throughout the United States continue to grow, the social and eco- 
nomic costs associated with poorly planned urban growth will come 
to represent extremely important political and governmental prob- 
lems. There is no simple way of dealing with these mounting social 
and economic costs. Even though the rate of technological achieve- 
ment has accelerated, the problems that beset our cities and towns 
still tend to proliferate. We must face up to the issues raised by 
unchecked and uncontrolled urban development: 
As our population grows and our technology advances, the decisions about the 
use of land and of public revenue become increasingly complex. The governmental 
machinery to make these decisions and the governmental influences on private 
market decisions have not kept pace with this complexity. As a result, we are 
faced with traffic congestion, blight in our central cities, unequal burdens of 
suburban expansion, duplication of public facilities, and an inefficient use of public 
and private resources.! 
At every level of government there are important actions to be 
taken if we are to confront these issues successfully. State government, 
in particular, has an indispensable role to play in addressing the 
problems of urbanization; to a great extent the ability of local govern- 
ments to cope with urban growth and development depends on the 
attitude and organization of State government (e.g., its willingness to 
allocate resources and decisionmaking powers to lower levels of 
government). The tools available to localities, the money they spend, 
and the powers they exercise are to a great extent determined by a 
wide assortment of State constitutional, statutory, and administrative 
regulations. Even given the authority and the independence afforded 
localities by such provisions as home rule, the State government still 
controls and delimits local governmental functioning.” 
Even if an overall urban growth policy had been formulated at the 
Federal level, planning for future urban development would still be 
primarily the responsibility of State governments. It is unfortunate 
that the Nation as a whole has not establisled a consistent policy with 
respect to the management of the country’s land resources or with 
respect to the many Federal programs designed to assist, influence, or 
regulate the process of urban development at the State, regional, and 
local levels.’ Increasingly there are instances where Federal programs 
are in conflict with each other. Federal agencies involved in the 
preparation of highway plans, and air transportation plans, water 
resource development programs, and community facility improvement 
programs, plans to redevelop industrial areas and depollute rivers are 
often found to be working at cross purposes. Most of the plans and 
1 Guiding ‘Metropolitan Growth’? (New York: Committee for Economic Development, 1960), p. 14. 
ie Norman Beckman, “Our Federal System and Urban Development: The Adaptation of Form to Func- 
tion,” Journal of the American Institute of Planners, (JAIP), vol. XXX, August 1964, p. 155. 
# In January 1970, Senator Jackson introduced a bill in Congress to amend the Water Resources Planning 
Act (79 Stat. 244) to include provision for a national land use policy by broadening the authority of the 
Water Resources Council and river basin commissions and by providing financial assistan’ cefor statewide 
Jand use planning. In March 1970 a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives (H.R. 16647) 
b y Mr. Ashley ‘‘to provide for the development of a national urban growth policy, and to encourage and 
support the rational, orderly, efficient and economic growth and development of our States, metropolitan 
areas, Cities, counties, and towns, with emphasis upon the development of new communities and upon inner 
city development.” In 1969 Florence Dwyer of New Jersey introduced a bill into the House of Representa- 
tives (H.R. 13217) to “provide for the baleuced urban development and growth of the United States.” 
