In Defense Of Strip Developments

Urban planners consider strip developments to be ugly and auto dependent, so they want to prevent such developments from being built and modify existing ones to discourage driving. Yet planners' schemes for strip developments are anti-consumer, as they will lead to less consumer choice and higher prices.The Theoreau Institute presents a 4,000-word report about strip developments. Among the points in the report: (1) Strip developments are the natural result of people's desire to live apart from the noise and traffic of busy travel corridors combined with the desire of businesses to locate along such corridors. (2) Highways that turn into strips serve two functions -- transporting people across the region and giving local residents access to goods and services -- with minimal interference between these functions. (3) Strip developments offer an incredible variety of goods and services, many of which are not found in shopping malls, city centers, or other, more heavily planned areas. (4) Proposals to limit or modify strip developments are anti-consumer as well as anti-business.