Photo Credit: John Douglas
Sprawl in the Burlington, Vermont region.

Growth Gamble?

New England is losing ground: its population is aging rapidly; it lost 20 percent of its 20-to-34 year olds in the ‘90s; towns resist families with school-age kids; some demographers see “slow economic suicide.” Sprawl imperils the region’s world-signature countryside; housing costs soar; local government inefficiency inflates costs. Possible solutions: more family-friendly policies, big pushes for affordable housing, protecting open countryside and channeling development toward old working class cities, state-offered carrots and sticks to cut local government costs.

To learn more about this issue, read the Citistates article, Growth Gamble.

We also encourage you to review the Resources and Best Practices associated with growth, affordable housing and governance issues in New England in order to gain further perspective on the issue.