Conclusions and recommendations from Urban and rural America: policies for future growth Page: 8
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by governmental policies and programs at the national, State, and local levels. At the Federal level these
governmental influences are exerted through many programs, such as the rural development program of the
Department of Agriculture; the urban and rural antipoverty activities of the Office of Economic Opportunity;
the various programs of the department of Housing and Urban Development; the Economic Development
Administration's program for assisting depressed areas; the location and scheduling of highway construction;
and the distribution of Federal contracts and purchases throughout the country.
State and local actions are key determinants of communities' physical, economic, and social climatea
factor of increasingly critical importance in business location decisions. The major instrument of State and
local policy affecting the direction of urbanization is land use and development controls. Among other critical
effects, these serve to influence effect, either directly or through economic forces, the opportunities of
racial minorities to move to places of their choice. Also, through fiscal and organizational measures, State
and local governments affect the balance of financial resources and services as between central cities and
their suburban environs.
The interplay of private and governmental policies and decisions has taken place in the context of governmental
institutions which grew and developed in a nation primarily agricultural in character. Only recently
have some of these institutions been reorganized to reflect the urban character of the nation. The Federal
Department of Housing and Urban Development and State departments of community development and local
affairs provide an administrative focus for dealing with urban problems. Legislative organization at national
and State levels is only beginning to reflect this concern. In a few States, legislative committees on urban and
metropolitan affairs have been established. The Joint Economic Committee of Congress has recently established
a Subcommittee on Urban Affairs.
Governmental policies thus have just recently begun to assume an urban focus. Moreover, the focus has
generally been sporadic, and while significant, it has been limited in scope. Regarding the location of urban
growth, there has been no overall policy by which to guide public policies and programs affecting the geographic
location of such development throughout the nation. Similarly there has been no overall policy to
guide the character and nature of growth. Lacking a policy framework, specific program decisions concentrating
on particular objectives have sometimes produced inadvertent results in terms of urbanization trends, altering
or partially cancelling out basic program goals.
Considering the already substantial effect of governmental action on urbanization, and the likely consequences
of a continuation of present patterns of urbanization and economic growth, the question arises:
Should government undertake to develop and implement a national policy to deal with urban growth? Important
considerations on both sides of this question should be assessed.
Arguments in Favor of a National Policy to Deal with Urban Growth
* Governmental programs already have a significant effect on the location of population and economic
growth and the character of urban development. Establishing an overall policy would give articulated direction
to the effects of these programs, make them consistent, and avoid having different programs working at
cross-purposes and subsidizing undesirable and costly patterns of urban development.
At the Federal level, for example, the FHA mortgage insurance program makes it easier for people to
buy new houses, thereby inducing them to move to the suburbs and outlying areas frequently resulting in increased
"sprawl"; the highway program constructs express highways, which make it simpler for commuters
to move back and forth from suburb to central city, and to commute between their homes, shopping centers
and other residences in the suburbs; the urban renewal and model cities programs are designed to redevelop
and revitalize older central cities; Federal purchases particularly for defense and space exploration, finance
the location or relocation of entire industrial complexes; the Economic Development Administration assists
areas which have had persistent unemployment and have lost population because of it. So far as the location
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United States. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. Conclusions and recommendations from Urban and rural America: policies for future growth, book, July 1968; Washington, D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1398/m1/16/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.