Catherine A. Cooper

Rhode Island, like many places across the country, has experienced the effects of suburban sprawl in recent decades.  Sprawl is characterized by low-density development, a loss of open spaces, separation of land-use types, and automobile dependency.  It negatively affects the values that define quality of life, and hinders residents’ abilities to sustain a viable economy and environment.  This research explores the values that are threatened by sprawl, the negative effects sprawl has on these values, and proposes some available indicators for tracking changes over time in these values.

The underlying presumption behind this research is that sprawl threatens the quality of life, particularly in rural areas.  Quality of life is defined by values including access to open spaces, good municipal services, rural character, urban community character, clean air and water, and residents’ quality use of time.  Sprawl negatively affects each of these. 

To more effectively address these issues, it is necessary to quantify the effects sprawl has on these values. The table below lists the values that are threatened, the measures available for assessing change in values, and the desired trend of each measurement.

            The values discussed in this research can come into conflict in planning scenarios. Four planning scenarios are examined that explore the conflicting nature of values: golf courses, commercial strip development, cluster development, and linear development.  Commercial strip development, for example, may be visually unappealing and hinder the rural character of an area.  However, offering a multitude of commercial businesses in the same area can limit the amount of shopping trips residents need to make.  This can lower vehicle miles traveled and also time spent in the car (vehicle hours traveled) which may limit air pollution in the area and reduce vehicular energy consumed.  This type of development can benefit or hinder values that define residents’ quality of life, depending on which values are perceived as having a higher priority.  Therefore, it is imperative that citizens and planners be clear on what development priorities should be, with respect to quality-of-life values, before land use decisions are implemented. 

            Suburbanization began in Rhode Island in the early 1920s, with the advent of an effective transportation system, and has continued to the present.  In recent decades, there has been a continuous migration away from the state’s urban areas into rural portions of western and southern Rhode Island.  Population in the state has only increased 6 percent, while residential use of land increased 44 percent and housing units increased 31 percent.  Compared with recent population growth in the state, residential use of land and the construction of housing units have ensued at an alarming rate.  Household size has decreased by 18 percent while the average number of acres per housing lot has increased over 10 percent.  This development of land has had detrimental effects on open spaces, rural character, urban community character, air and water quality, vehicular energy consumption, and other important aspects of residents’ quality of life values. 

            Finally, a Priority Service Area (PSA) is presented as one suggestion for growth management in the state.  There are many growth management options available to communities, but I believe a PSA is the preferred option for Rhode Island.  A PSA has the ability to preserve a number of the values discussed in this research while also controlling some of the economic problems which sprawl creates.  In the implementation of this program, state and local governments have a variety of options from which to choose.  These include implementing a PSA on the state or municipal level; grading a PSA or creating a static one; and taxing versus billing for community services.  These options allow a government to create a PSA that best fits the needs of its residents.

            These problems are not unique to Rhode Island.  It is hoped that this research will enable state and local governments to more effectively address the issue of sprawl, not only in Rhode Island, but across the country as well.  By carefully considering the roots of sprawl, recognizing the negative effects it has on values, and setting clear priorities, land use planning can move beyond its historical shortsightedness to plan for a future that is more healthy and sustainable.