This document contains 10 questions related to land use planning and development. The questions cover topics such as the historical influences on New England town layouts, Jean Gottmann's work on urbanization patterns in the US, suburban development in Boston areas, tools for land use management, the impact of post-WWII housing programs, implications of an aging population, exercises calculating changes in land area based on expanding metropolitan boundaries, the process of converting rural land to development, and Supreme Court cases and perspectives on climate change.

1. 1. What were the principal European influences on the layout of
early New England Towns?(10 points)
2. Jean Gottmann was a French geographer, a contemporary of
Jane Jacobs and William H. Whyte. He lived in the United
States and wrote about the Urban Settlement Pattern he
observed emerging in the U.S. shaped by market forces. Identify
the theme or themes of Gottmann’s seminal work, Megalopolis.
Imagine that we are writing an update of his book today. Assess
whether there would be any changes in thinking and writing.
You should refer to sources (except for Wikipedia). Please cite
your sources properly.
a. How would land development trends in the intervening years
then and now change the picture he presented (5 points).
b. Although Gottmann was generally optimistic about
American’s confidence in our ability to solve problems, do you
think he would feel that his main area of concern has proven to
be justified? (5 points)
3. How did history and geography combine to development and
suburbanization of Roxbury, West Roxbury, and Dorchester? (5
points)
4. Compare and contrast the following tools for implementing
land use management goals and objectives. (Please include
constitutional and statutory references to considerations of
policy power and eminent domain principles that underlie each
of these land use management tools and give examples of land
use management objectives for which each might be suited.)(20
points total)
a. Regulations such as zoning, special environmental protection
ordinances, etc.

2. b. Public purchase of land outright (fee simple ownership) to
keep it out of development altogether.
c. Public purchase of easements (less than full fee ownership)
such as the right to change its use, or the right to develop it
with structures, transferable development rights, etc.
d. Transferable development rights
5. How did the FHWA and VA home mortgage programs of
post-World War II affect the following:
a. Housing production? Describe the mechanism through which
these programs were designed to influence normal private sector
market operations and the results. (5 points)
b. The expansion patterns of urban settlements in the U.S? Give
examples of the latter from your reference jurisdiction or
another jurisdiction with you are familiar? (5 points)
6. Demographic trends show that, with the aging of the “baby
boom generation” older adults represent one of the faster
growing segments of the United States population. Please
discuss what environmental implications this could have for
regional and local land use patterns across the United States (5
points).
7. Think of a metropolitan area as a circle.
a. What happens to the area within the circle as the circle’s’
radius
i. Doubles?
ii. Triples?
iii. What happens if the radius grows to four times its original
length? (5 points)
b. Now imagine a circle with a 3-mile radius to be a
hypothetical metropolitan area with relatively little undeveloped

3. land inside. If the radius of this hypothetical metropolitan area
is extended to 10 miles, how much land is added to the original
developed area? (Note: Use 3.1416 as the value of π in your
formula for the area of your circle. There are 640 acres in a
square mile.) (5 points)
c. What does this exercise suggest to you in terms of land-use
management challenges facing your reference jurisdiction? You
may use as the center of your circle the center of the
metropolitan area nearest to your reference jurisdiction or the
nearest edge city or major employment center. Do indicate,
however, what your “center” is. Using a map could be a help to
you in organizing your thoughts to answer this question. Be
specific. (5 points)
8. There are two parts to the following question. You may use
the Webliography or other sources. Please cite your sources
properly. (10 points total)
a. List the steps involved in converting rural land into
development. You may use your reference description or
another location in the United States.
b. Indicate the points in the process where actions of
governmental agencies intersect or control the decisions of the
private sector actors in the process. Where is public input
considered? Be sure to represent what levels of government are
the public decision-makers representing? It may be helpful to
use a Microsoft Word table to organize the decision-making
process.
9. Describe the Supreme Court Case that restricted the use of
zoning to control coastal development (i.e., case involves South
Carolina). Do you agree with the decision; why or why not? ( 5
points)

4. 10. What are the primary arguments used by individuals and
groups that disavow man-made climate change? Do you agree
with their perspectives and use of data. Why or why not?