Land Use Planning and Growth Management: Comparative Policy Perspectives on Urban Sprawl and Future Open Space Preservation Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station

Future community well-being is significantly affected by current land use policies and planning decisions. Many socioeconomic and biophysical aspects of quality of life are similarly influenced by viable economic development strategies and sustainable land use practices that seek to maintain or enhance the long-term productive capacity of our natural resource base. This includes the complex interactions between people and our land and water resources that sustain biological productivity and amenity values, so critical in our agriculture, forestry, tourism and recreation sectors. A key challenge in land use policy is to recognize both the environmental capacities and limitations of our resource base and seek land uses that enhance th