Book Summary of Confronting Regional Challenges: Approaches to LULUs, Growth, and Other Vexing Governance Problems by Joseph DiMento and LeRoy Graymer, eds.

Confronting Regional Challenges: Approaches to LULUs, Growth, and Other Vexing Governance Problems, Joseph DiMento and LeRoy Graymer, eds., Cambridge, Massachusetts: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1991, 131 pp.

Confronting Regional Challenges: Approaches to LULUs, Growth, and Other Vexing Governance Problems examines the problems that locally unwanted land uses (LULUs) pose for public policy, and suggests ways of breaking the policy impasse.

Confronting Regional Challenges: Approaches to LULUs, Growth, and Other Vexing Governance Problems will be of interest to those who seek a better understanding of growth and land use policy, and of the difficulties faced by LULUs. This work presents seven papers from the Sixth Annual Donald G. Hagman Commemorative Conference at UCLA. The volume opens with an introduction by the editors, who note that "Since 1975 not a single hazardous-waste treatment facility has been built in the United States."[1] Hazardous-waste treatment facilities are an example of a LULU; they are a needed facility, and yet no community is willing to have such a facility located in their area. Public policy and decision-making procedures seem unable to deal with the impasse which such LULUs present.

Frank Popper analyses the problems of siting LULUs from economic, legal and political perspectives. He criticizes current regional approaches to limiting growth and land use. In instead he proposes a different regional approach to resolving the blockage of LULUs, which would be designed to equitably distribute the burden of LULUs.

Lawrence Susskind and Jeffrey Cruikshank apply the negotiated approach to consensus building to the issue of LULUs. The authors consider a typical LULU: providing shelter for the homeless. They first discuss the ways in which traditional, compromise-based strategies fail to resolve such issues. They then explore the potential for negotiated approaches to consensus building to resolve such impasses by seeking an all-gain, or win-win solution. The authors sketch the theory behind negotiated consensus and discuss its applicability to distributional public policy issues. They close by describing the characteristics of a good settlement.

Daniel Mazmanian and Michael Stanley-Jones argue that, contrary to conventional views, LULUs actually reflect a crisis of political legitimacy for American government. The authors examine two cases: the Denver Metropolitan Water Roundtable, and hazardous-waste management in California. Drawing on these case studies they identify the conditions which result in successful LULU siting. The authors conclude that a non-adversarial, cooperative approach to siting issues is most effective.

Richard Babcockreviews the successes and failings of recent regional approaches to LULUs, and distills some general principles for creating successful regional planning. Daniel W. O'Connellstudies Florida's unique growth management and planning policies. The Florida plan emphasizes planning, intergovernmental negotiation, and informal mediation. He evaluates the effectiveness of Florida's current policies, and suggests further reforms to enhance the system. Many responses to the problem of LULUs emphasize centralized, regional governance. Mark Baldassare investigates the public's response to such shifts. He finds that generally the public prefers local, community-based control. He concludes by suggesting ways to encourage support for regional authorities.

In conclusion, John Kirlin attempts to synthesize the insights of the earlier contributors into a general account of the conditions which lead to effective policy and successful siting of LULUs.

Confronting Regional Challenges: Approaches to LULUs, Growth, and Other Vexing Governance Problems analyses the unique problem which LULUs pose for traditional forms of land use planning and regulatory approaches, and suggests a number of responses.