Can You Control Population Growth?

LA Times Magazine offers a feature article about California's growth. Is it desirable or even feasible to manage large-scale flows of labor and capital?

1 minute read

January 31, 2004, 7:00 AM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen


"Most of the conversation about growth these days revolves around principles of growth management -- 'smart growth' in planning-speak. Schwarzenegger is heading down this road, rhetorically anyway. Smart growth emphasizes increasing density in cities as an alternative to sprawl, enabling people to live close to where they work, minimizing environmental impact, preserving open space, and encouraging public transit, bicycling, and walking rather than driving. But the discussion is always about accommodating growth, never about slowing, limiting, or stabilizing it. Mention the idea of somehow trying to limit the population and politicians react as though you have suggested that our society eat cats and dogs instead of cows and pigs. Curb population growth? The very notion is unthinkable because—well, this is America."

Thanks to Peter Gordon's Blog

Sunday, January 25, 2004 in The Los Angeles Times

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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