Urban Sprawl in Western Europe and the United States

Urban sprawl is one of the key planning issues today.

This book compares Western Europe and the USA, focusing on anti-sprawl policies.

The USA is known for its settlement patterns that emphasize low-density suburban development and extreme automobile dependence, whereas European countries emphasize higher densities, pro-transit policies and more compact urban growth.

Yet, on closer inspection, the differences are not as wide as first appears.

A key feature of the book is the attention given to France; its experience is little known in the English-speaking world.

The book concludes that both continents can offer each other useful insights and perhaps policy guidance.