Creating an Anti-Growth Regulatory Regime:
A Case from Greater Boston

Since the 1970s, like countless other American communities, Arlington , Massachusetts has replaced its informal, pro-development system of approving residential development projects with a complex and increasingly controversial obstacle course of regulations that greatly limited the development of new single- and multi-family buildings.

At this event, Alexander von Hoffman, a noted urban historian and senior research fellow at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, discussed his new paper,"Creating an Anti-Growth Regulatory Regime: A Case from Greater Boston," which focuses on the history and implications of Arlington ’s changing policies towards development. James Segel, an attorney who works extensively with local communities and who has also served as president of the Massachusetts Municipal Association and as a state representative, commented on the lessons that can be drawn from Arlington’s history and on the need for and prospects of changing the region’s current land-use regulation system.

This event was co-sponsored by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, the Joint Center for Housing Studies, and the Real Estate Academic Initiative. It is available on video tape, plese contact Polly O'Brien at 617-495-5091 or polly@rappaportinstitute.org for viewing options.