Page 16 RAIN May 1976 DISECONOMIES OF SCALE Recent analysis of the actual performance of community services, industrial productiort and other k~nds of services has shown that major diseconomies of scaie are frequent and that smaller-scale operation of almost everything would be more efficient as well as socially preferable and more adapta_ble to future resource conditions. These studies, such as Barry Stein's study of industrial performanceP "Size. Efficiency and Community Enterprise" (RAIN, Jan. '76) and Richard Bradley's study of the cost uf community services for differentsized cities, The Costs of Urban Growth (RAIN, Jan. '76) give soundly-documented ·support for community decisions to control the scale of their city, industry and services. COSTS OF GROWTH ' I LAND USE COSTS Documt;:ntation of relative costs of different land use patterns from unplanned suburban sprawl to planned high-density developments is letting us no\\/ see what we're really paying for how we live. The ,costs of Sprawl shows 44% less capital cost for planne9 compact developments, 43% less land cos,ts, 63% savings in utility costs, and 44% reduction in energy use. And new sewage treatment options are going to altc:;r present controls on land development. As increasi~g land va'.lue for agriculture and the fu ture costs ·of operating our ·communities are added in, more compact communities seem a blessing, and our willingness to a1low qevelopment based only on a developer's immediate interests is most unlikely to continue. f:Jj\L '(Ml' ,(.i.} ---- 1!:S' j lt(,""rlt ~JT • 'i SCJ..lNr0!'10U .1f:,_ _ _:,if --~~·~" ,'j VJ,i.c pu~ .-,quart: ivot co,n;;cJtin~ H,a l..1C!at ~X,.A,,1siv,, Gf oc.ct1 typ.J of low,ot:C housmg WJth an ownut-hU:lt hou.sH of c x i1;:,arnblt, cc.!ibdt. L--::t1r61>t ;s ba,;.,d un a !~,rt:~~a~~~~::,.:~I~~~:,~~~:ea~·1~:~oc'u~~~-more im;.,oriMt than obiol~te vaJy-,1 Source:, Tpe Owner-Builder and the Code In the wealthiest nation in-the world we can't afford hoµsing s.imply because we go about it wrong. To begin with, BUILDING SIMPLY we demand a palace for all our fantasies rather than a place to-love and to shelter us. We then seem unperturbed about the prospect of paying a king's-ransom for someone else to build it for us rather than build our own skills and confidence. We're then willing to pay forever so we can have it all NOW. Doing it ourselves and cutting.out the middlemen has been shown to save up to 80% on the cost of similar houses, while building our needs rather than our fantasies can reduce the costs of the structure itself to a'shadow · of what we normally pay. See The . Owner-Builder and THE -CODE (RAIN, Feb./March '76) for more details. USING LAND WISELY ENERGY COSTS The Costs ofSpra.wl also lays out comparative energy operating costs for different land use patterns and shows that our present energy use can be cut in half by more compact development. Studies by the Swedi~h Council for Building Research (RAIN, Feb./March '76) agree. Ehliminating nee_d for transportation fur- ,/' t er reduces energy costs-which promise to become the most significant factor in future changes in land use patterns. Aw~rene_ss of what we're getting ourselves in·for is likely to cause basic change in community planning goals in the very near future. (seep. 12) 50 Community cost analysis: capital costs .... '1ioi. T~~: l ~=~i, Gov-"t ~." i.MHI Source: The Costs of Sprawl: £ xecul1v<1 Summary p. 3. A significant part of the cost of new housing (whether paid in the price of the housing or through taxes) is the cost of land, improvement, installation of streets, utilities, and community services. The Costs of Sprawl, like previous studies in Finland and the Netherlands, documents the capital costs, operating costs, energy costs as well as social and environmental costs of our present urban patterns of' supplying those housing development services. The studies show that where more compact, and planned patterns of development . have taken place such costs are 'reduced by up to 50%, while provjding a better quality social and physical environment.
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