Controlling urban sprawl: Some experiences from Liverpool

The control of urban sprawl is one of the key issues challenging planners in many countries. Whilst a substantial discourse has developed in North America, it is also a matter of key concern for British and European planners, although here the debate is often expressed in terms of urban containment and the search for compact cities. This article considers the development of policies for the control of urban sprawl within the British planning system and examines their implementation and effectiveness within one city region: the Liverpool conurbation. Despite the considerable achievements of British policy in controlling urban sprawl and encouraging urban regeneration over the last two decades, there remain some doubts as to how much further market forces can be directed towards the production of more compact cities. In particular, a number of commentators, notably Breheny [Urban compaction: feasible and acceptable? Cities 14 (1997) 209–217], have raised doubts about the feasibility and acceptability of urban compaction to populations whose main housing location aspiration is for suburban living. Evidence in this paper is drawn from the analysis of secondary data for the Liverpool conurbation as well as the results of surveys of recently moving households carried out by the authors. This evidence suggests that despite recent progress, these market forces continue to represent a major challenge to policy makers in promoting the compact city.