California Cities Under Pressure

This report examines residential development policy in California municipalities (cities), where most of the state’s new growth is accommodated. It places particular emphasis on efforts by cities to control or manage the pace or form of new housing development. Which communities adopt growth controls, and why? Attention is also directed toward the local politics of residential growth, to the role of local conditions and controversies in affecting land-use policies, and to theoverall posture of city governments toward accommodating new housing. The authors draw much of their evidence from a detailed mail questionnaire of city planning officials responsible for implementing local residential policies in the major regions of the state—including metropolitan Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Central Valley—conducted in 1998–1999.

Thanks to California Policy Forum