Beyond growth management: A review of the wider functions and effects of urban growth management policies

Abstract

Urban growth management policies (UGMPs), which include green belts and urban growth boundaries seek to prevent urban sprawl in neighbouring peri-urban and rural landscapes. However, the wider social, environmental, and economic impacts these policies have on the landscapes they govern is unclear and contested. This paper undertakes a structured review of academic literature in Scopus investigating these wider UGMPs functions, impacts and effects beyond urban sprawl. A systematic key word search and a two-stage sieving process of the global literature identified 115 relevant academic publications across disciplines. This review found a diverse range of social and environmental functions of UGMPs zones, including as ecological corridors, sinks for climate regulation and recreational landscapes. Mixed methods and interdisciplinary studies are lacking, but multiple ecosystem services provided by UGMP zones were found in limited examples. However, cultural ecosystem services were rarely assessed alongside regulating and provisioning services and multiple ecosystem services have not been explicitly studied in US and English UGMP zones. Conversely, UGMPs are shown to have complex economic effects on land and housing markets, as well as creating contentious spaces. Currently, these findings are largely location based, making it hard to distinguish between site-specific and cross-cutting effects and functions, presenting a potential challenge for policy makers. To better understand the value of these zones to society and unlock their potential as multifunctional opportunity spaces in addressing climate, biodiversity and health challenges, more holistic and interdisciplinary research is needed into UGMP zones.