The benefits and costs of metropolitan growth a survey of the issues

In recent years the notion of sustainable cities has been much in vogue. The attractiveness of this term stems from the combination of environmental equity (both inter-generational and infra-generational) with economic growth embedded within it. It implies that all these aspects should be taken into account when determining metropolitan growth paths. Yet, in practice much of the discussion either remained at the conceptual level or focused on a subset of issues, such as energy efficiency. This paper surveys a wide array of issues and aspects regarding the benefits and costs of metropolitan growth. It identifies to what extent each aspect is pertinent to the debate today, and attempts to make a first step toward defining these aspects in terms of specific planning objectives or evaluation criteria. In particular, the paper identifies the main trade-offs that need to be addressed in determining metropolitan growth paths.