Land Use Conflict

Urban sprawl is not a new phenomenon. Metropolitan areas have been growing and expanding for the past century, pushing development into rural areas. History has shown that rural-urban conflicts are often the result.

Theodore Roosevelt formed this century's first presidential inquiry into rural problems in 1908. His "Country Life Commission" was charged with stemming rural residents' rush into the cities. During the second half of the twentieth century, the migration to the central city has been reversed, as people pour out of cities and into the suburbs. Today, increasingly complex rural-urban land use issues have continued to generate controversy.