Those unintended consequences are a b.

[dude1394]

I've always loved unintended consequences. If you consider them you have to think past first/second stage thinking to some longer term stuff. Here's an interesting one.

The article is about fastest growing communities, the unintended consequences are the politicians trying to fight sprawl by managing the suburbs...thereby....causing even more sprawl. Politicians...just say no.

Also shows the genious of texas only having those guys in office every two years imo, less politicians means less mucking up of things.
http://promo.realestate.yahoo.com/am...g_suburbs.html

But with sprawl comes both pros and cons.

In Texas, for example, geographic growth is almost completely unregulated. Not surprisingly, the Lone Star State has the lion's share of the country's top-growth suburbs, 20, 12 of which are in the Dallas-Forth Worth metro area.

As a result, these areas have some of the most affordable homes in the nation, since there is plenty of supply to meet demand. But transportation expenses are often high. In Houston, such costs are the No. 1 household expense, according to the Brookings Institute.

Cities that engage in restrictive growth policies find themselves with different trade offs. In Boston's inner suburbs, including Chelsea and Cambridge, zoning and growth restrictions designed to prevent sprawl backfire because they force people to look farther outside the city for affordable housing. According to the same Brookings Institute study, metros with growth exclusion plans like Boston have the most expensive housing stock in the country since there is a limited supply of homes close to the city.

This becomes particularly problematic in northeastern and Rust-Belt cities that are losing population. Places like Phoenix and Las Vegas are spreading out faster than Boston, but they are doing so more efficiently, meaning with a more concentrated population.

Last year, just over 16,000 more people left the Boston metro area than moved in, yet the suburbs continued to expand geographically. The result is a thinning of the area, which makes Boston more of a sprawl, if sprawl is defined as the density of population over a geographic space.

[Motofoto]

Sprawl may make places more affordable but the lifestyle tradeoff is a huge one IMO. There is nothing like living in a vibrant city such as Boston. I suppose when it comes to raising a family, cities like Dallas become more attractive.

[Motofoto]

Also I dont think sprawl = affordability. LA would be pretty illustrative of that.

[dude1394]

I think (as usual) that it's a monetary decision. You can buy in Dallas (say wylie, I just picked a house) 1600 sq. ft for 125K.

In downtown boston you are talking what? 700K or so? And that's a condo with probably little places for kiddos.

When we had kiddos growing up I wouldn't have lived anyplace else BUT the suburbs, when they were gone, we moved back towards the city and really like it. But for kids, I wouldn't subject them to the city to be honest.

[Mavdog]

what the heck is this guy thinking:

The result is a thinning of the area, which makes Boston more of a sprawl, if sprawl is defined as the density of population over a geographic space.

so "sprawl" is a light pop/sq mi? what?

to speak about it, you best know what you're talking about.

and believe me, geographic growth is regulated in texas (except houston...). for instance, plano is built out for residential, even though there's still hundreds of acres of land undeveloped in plano.

boston has sprawl. it has outlying suburbs that are growing.

if the community keeps housing numbers static while demand exists, the value of that housing will rise. that's good for the community, it provides an increasing tax base as well as encourages investment in those houses.

while there's a strong trend for urban, hiher density residential communities, those are not geared for families. they are for the pre-child years and for the empty nest years.

as long as people have kids, the suburbs will be just fine. and we'll continue to have expanding suburbs as our poulation keeps growing.

[Dirkadirkastan]

Austin is sprawling pretty fast too.