Should Governmental Bodies Regulate Urban Planning?

A series of four essays about the libertarian/market debates concerning planning have been published the Journal of Markets and Morality. The essays are part of a spirited exchange between Mark Pennington, lecturer in Public Policy at the University of London, and Charles C. Bohl, Director, Knight Program in Community Building University of Miami: "This controversy piece introduces readers to the New Urbanism (NU), a movement in architecture and planning that advocates the use of traditional neighborhood design to build walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods and towns that emulate places of enduring quality and provide an alternative to low-density, single-use, automobile-dependent development patterns commonly referred to as “sprawl.” Critics maintain that what is derided as sprawl is simply the development pattern of choice as generated by market forces over time and that NU and related smart-growth policies and transit initiatives are at odds with the lifestyle preferences and homeownership goals of Americans."

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