Sprawl Verdict: Not Guilty | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: The article below appeared in John Hood's daily column in his publication, the Carolina Journal, which, because of Author / Publisher Hood, is inextricably linked to the John Locke Foundation.

    RALEIGH     The cult commonly known as the Smart Growth movement has proven to be remarkably resilient in the face of empirical adversity. When confronted with clear evidence of transit's tiny share of the commuting market, the costly failure of downtown developments, and the continued high consumer demand for suburban lifestyles, Smart Growthers have essentially retreated to the corner, assumed the lotus position, put their hands over their ears, and chanted "if we build it, they will come."

    Out here in the center of the room, where we prefer to deal in realities rather than fantasies, the Smart Growth policy mix of restrictions, regulations, and transit subsidies looks increasingly disconnected from North Carolina's needs.

    Our economy stinks. Rates of traffic congestion on our urban interstates are among the highest in the country. Our business climate for entrepreneurship is poor. And our energy prices are already higher than they should be because of past regulatory mistakes, a fact that isn't doing our economic competitiveness any favors.

    Smart Growthers claim that their program of taxes, subsidies, and regulations would help to alleviate these problems. In fact, they would make the problems worse. Making our environmental and land-use regulations more stringent will weaken our competitiveness. Squandering scarce transportation funds on inefficient rail systems will result in fewer people and less freight moved per dollar invested, making North Carolina a less attractive place to start and expand new businesses. And higher taxes on incomes, sales, or motor fuels will crimp growth.

    On a more fundamental level, Smart Growth policies are based on pervasive misunderstandings of how local economies function. They seek to address supposed externalities of suburban living that don't exist in the real world. It is automobile owners who subsidize transit users, for example, not the other way around. It is high-density development that increases the cost of government services, not the other way around.

    Here's just one of many recent studies that challenge the doctrines of the cult. In a 2010 paper for The Review of Regional Studies, Randall Holcombe of Florida State University and DeEdgra Williams of Florida A&M examined the relationship between urban sprawl and such phenomena as traffic congestion, highway fatalities, air pollution, and the cost to taxpayers for building and maintaining transportation infrastructure.

    Past studies of growth policy have used simplistic models that failed to account for all the relevant variables. In their model, Holcombe and Williams include such important measures as the share of the local population in the workforce and the rate of automobile ownership. What they found is that contrary to the usual assertions by the usual suspects, the rate of sprawl in a community does not bear a statistically significant relationship to congestion, pollution, transportation cost, or other negative externalities.

    That's the substantive problem with the Smart Growth position. The bigger problem, however, is political. North Carolinians don't want to live the way central planners and urban elites want them to live. Most prefer to own their own transportation assets (cars) rather than renting them from the government (buses and trains). Most prefer to define their own commuting patterns, choosing routes and departure times, rather than having to obey someone else's transit schedule. Most prefer to live in suburban neighborhoods rather than urban condos. Most expect to be home most weeknights with their children rather than frequenting downtown bars, restaurants, or cultural venues.

    I expect some policymakers will continue to try to alter these near-universal public preferences. I expect them to fail. If you live within the confines of a cult, your perception of the outside world tends to be badly distorted.

    Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and author of Our Best Foot Forward: An Investment Plan for North Carolina's Economic Recovery