Even though Americans may be concerned about sprawl, they may not support the smart-growth approach, Staley and others argue. Critics also say smart growth doesn't deliver what it promises. Smart-growth fans constantly attack traffic congestion. But the growth limits they push would pack more people into smaller areas, perhaps leading to even more congestion. Randal O'Toole, a visiting economics scholar at the University of California at Berkeley, notes that planners in Portland, Ore., and Minnesota's Twin Cities actually say congestion's a good thing in the short term, because it makes subways, buses and other mass transit more attractive.
More congestion also leads to more air pollution, at least locally.
Comparing data from the Census Bureau and the Environmental Protection Agency, O'Toole found that the most densely populated cities had the worst air pollution. He also noted that in most cities, population density didn't keep people from driving. As land for development gets taken out of circulation, home prices tend to rise. Portland, Ore., which has had urban-growth boundaries for 20 years, has seen home prices double during the 1990s. Fans of the boundaries attribute much of the hike to the region's popularity.