Amazing Planning Facts

Richard A. Carson

I thought a little reality test would be in order. Especially since the New Urbanists decided to hold their annual conference here -- in beautiful Portland, Oregon this June -- in the so-called Mecca of urban planning. One of goals of Smart Growth is to achieve higher densities in urban areas. So one would assume that, after 25 years of statewide land use planning and urban growth boundaries in Oregon, that the Portland metropolitan area would have achieved a higher density than most other metropolitan areas around the country. But it's not so. The "State and Metropolitan Area Data Book 1997-98," put out by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, gives densities for metropolitan counties (MSA=metropolitan statistical areas). The Portland-Salem's metropolitan area's density is actually less than both Seattle, Los Angeles, Dallas-Fort Worth and even Atlanta. About the only place we have a higher density than is Phoenix. In fact, the combined Portland-Salem metro areas are ranked only 70th out of 245 MSAs. So the region doesn't even get into the top quartile. You can check it out on the web at http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/metro06.prn.

Is there a lesson to be learned from this reality? Yes, when we accuse some place or the other of sprawl, we better have our facts straight. I mean it could be embarrassing. We in the Portland metropolitan area don't want to be portrayed as the Potemkin Village of urban planning or Smart Growth.

Metropolitan Counties             People per square mile     (1997)

New York-New Jersey             1955

Chicago-Gary-Kenosha          1247

Miami-Fort Lauderdale            1114

Philadelphia-Wilmington          1006

San Francisco-Oakland           909

Boston-Worcester                    903

Detroit-Ann Arbor                     828

Washington-Baltimore             752

Atlanta                                        592

Dallas-Fort Worth                     514

Seattle-Tacoma                        466

Minneapolis-St. Paul                460

Los Angeles-Riverside             459

Portland-Salem                         304

Denver-Boulder                         273

Phoenix-Mesa                            195

Richard H. Carson is an elected official of the American Planning Association, former editor of the "Oregon Planners' Journal," former director of METRO (the regional government for the Portland metropolitan area) and currently maintains an Internet list of planning editors. You can reach him via the Internet at his web page at http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/capitoldr/richcarson/richcarson.html