Promoting fiscal equity and efficient development practices at the metropolitan scale

Metropolitan areas across the United States are struggling with sprawling development patterns and the unequal distribution of opportunity across regional landscapes. One important reason for this is the highly fragmented structure of local governance that exists in many U.S. metropolitan areas. Communities in highly fragmented systems face significant, often overwhelming, pressures to compete for development that will expand their tax bases. These pressures often drive local land use planning decisions, encourage sprawl, and increase economic and social disparities.