<html> <body> Yes, more centralized housing often costs more than more dispersed location housing, but that is partly a result of limited supply. The best response is to find ways to build more affordable and accessible housing, called Location Efficient Development (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm22.htm" eudora="autourl"> http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm22.htm</a> ), so households can enjoy the best options overall. Recent U.S. studies have examined combined consumer housing and transportation costs to create a household affordability index. The lower costs of suburban housing is often offset by increased transportation expenditures, compounded by increases in indirect costs, such as reduced employment options and higher rates of traffic crash disabilities and deaths. See: CTOD and CNT (2006), The Affordability Index: A New Tool for Measuring the True Affordability of a Housing Choice, Center for Transit-Oriented Development and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, Brookings Institute (<a href="http://www.brookings.edu/">www.brookings.edu</a>); available at <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/metro/umi/20060127_affindex.pdf"> www.brookings.edu/metro/umi/20060127_affindex.pdf</a>. Barbara Lipman (2006), A Heavy Load: The Combined Housing and Transportation Burdens of Working Families, Center for Housing Policy (<a href="http://www.nhc.org/pdf/pub_heavy_load_10_06.pdf"> www.nhc.org/pdf/pub_heavy_load_10_06.pdf</a>).   There are a number of smart growth strategies to encourage more affordable and accessible residential development. Here is some of the literature: Danielle Arigoni (2001), Affordable Housing and Smart Growth: Making the Connections, Subgroup on Affordable Housing, Smart Growth Network (<a href="http://www.smartgrowth.org/">www.smartgrowth.org</a>) and National Neighborhood Coalition (<a href="http://www.neighborhoodcoalition.org/"> www.neighborhoodcoalition.org</a>). Scott Bernstein, Carrie Makarewicz, Kara Heffernan, Albert Benedict and Ben Helphand (2004), Increasing Affordability Through Reducing the Transportation and Infrastructure Cost Burdens of Housing, Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnerships (<a href="http://www.andpi.org/">www.andpi.org</a>); available at <a href="http://www.andpi.org/uploadedFiles/pdf/03MICI%20MTC%20Report_CNT.pdf"> www.andpi.org/uploadedFiles/pdf/03MICI%20MTC%20Report_CNT.pdf</a>.   CNT (2006), Paved Over: Surface Parking Lots or Opportunities for Tax-Generating, Sustainable Development?, Center for Neighborhood Technology (<a href="http://www.cnt.org/repository/PavedOver-Final.pdf"> www.cnt.org/repository/PavedOver-Final.pdf</a>).   Todd Litman (2003), Parking Requirement Impacts on Housing Affordability, VTPI (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/">www.vtpi.org</a>); available at <a href="http://www.vtpi.org/park-hou.pdf">www.vtpi.org/park-hou.pdf</a> . Todd Litman (2005), Understanding Smart Growth Saving, VTPI (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org/">www.vtpi.org</a>); available at <a href="http://www.vtpi.org/sg_save.pdf">www.vtpi.org/sg_save.pdf</a> .  William Lucy and David L. Phillips (2006), Tomorrow’s Cities, Tomorrow’s Suburbs, Planners Press (<a href="http://www.planning.org/">www.planning.org</a>). Arthur C. Nelson, Rolf Pendall, Casy Dawkins and Gerrit Knaap (2002), The Link Between Growth Management and Housing Affordability: The Academic Evidence, Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy (<a href="http://www.brook.edu/">www.brook.edu</a>); available at <a href="http://www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/growthmang.pdf"> www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/publications/growthmang.pdf</a>.   Ryan Russo (2001), Planning for Residential Parking: A Guide For Housing Developers and Planners, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (<a href="http://www.nonprofithousing.org/">www.nonprofithousing.org</a>) and the Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy (<a href="http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu/"> http://urbanpolicy.berkeley.edu</a>).   SPUR (1998), Reducing Housing Costs by Rethinking Parking Requirements, The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (<a href="http://www.spur.org/">www.spur.org</a>).   When discussing the tradeoffs between urban and suburban locations it is important to maintain a distinction between "density" (people per acre of land) and "crowding" (people per room or square foot of housing). Increased density does not necessarily increase crowding, often it simply reflects reduced lawns and different types of housing, such as shifts from large-lot to small-lot single-family, or shifts from single-family to townhouses and condominiums. Here in the U.S., many households move to suburbs for the sake of social attributes (security, better schools and public services, prestige) rather than physical features such as large lawns. By redeveloping urban neighborhoods, and building suburbs with urban-type densities, mix and transportation options, we can satisfy consumer needs in ways that reduce per capita vehicle travel and its associated costs. Best wishes, -Todd Litman At 08:09 AM 1/12/2007, Lee Schipper wrote: <blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Six years ago I raised this issue to the UITP guy selling the Millennium data base.. why was there nothing about housing and  land costs/rents etc. The insides of most Asian and L American cities are also expensive in the central, most desirable  areas. The UITP answer was that this was a fiduciary problem, almost a fiction. In fact it is what drives sprawl. Land farther out is cheaper. Homes are larger. And in the densest of cities, living space is less than in the less dense cities. The W Bank's "Sustainable Transport" from 1996 takes the Newman And Kenworthy data (which morphed into the Millennium data base) and looks at gasoline  per capita vs housing space per capita, and voila.. those living in the cities with the highest NK "gasoline per capita" have the highest home area per capita and by implication from N and K the lowest population densities Yet look at all the environmentalist generated blather  on sprawl and you never see housing costs; how much more does it cost to live 100 m from a metro vs 1 km away?  We hear about which people  spend the most  or least on transport, but not how much the same people spend on housing, yet we know that housing cost may be a more sensitive function of location than distance traveled. I am writing this from a hotel in Tokyo close to the center and some of the  most expensive land in the  world. And the  Tokyo city residents who live near in without a car have less space/capita to live in than those in the rest of japan or even in the outer suburbs of Tokyo  So in discussing sprawl, lets talk about what could be the main driving force, desire for living space.  And  let's remember in the US case tax deductions let us deduct all our mortgage interest from the home loan, in contrast to (more  compact) Canada.  Kinda makes you wonder whether in all of the studies of km we should have been studying square meters of home instead?  </blockquote> <x-sigsep></x-sigsep> Sincerely, Todd Alexander Litman Victoria Transport Policy Institute (<a href="http://www.vtpi.org" eudora="autourl">www.vtpi.org</a>) litman@vtpi.org Phone & Fax 250-360-1560 1250 Rudlin Street, Victoria, BC, V8V 3R7, CANADA “Efficiency - Equity - Clarity”   </body> </html>