CRITIQUE OF THE COSTS OF SPRAWL

This article critiques the methodology and conclusions of The Costs of Sprawl. That report does not determine the least costly housing pattern for a given population; it merely projects the costs and impacts of typical suburban development patterns. These projections are highly misleading. The principal flaw lies in the very conception of the prototype methodology adopted. The critique analyzes the sources of cost savings to show how the results are derived from the assumptions. It reanalyzes development costs and impacts using more appropriate assumptions, which produce very different results. © 1979 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.