Announcement: new paper on smart growth and government regulation

I recently coauthored a paper on government regulations designed to promote smart growth and green building (published by the Mercatus Institute).   The paper examines the prevalence of minimum density requirements, maximum parking requirements, and green building-related regulations. 

We conclude that:

*Minimum density requirements are quite rare.  Only two of twenty-four cities surveyed only two have such regulations.

*Maximum parking requirements are somewhat more common.  Only three cities of the twenty-four have citywide parking caps; however, parking caps for certain land uses or certain parts of a city are more common (though hardly as universal as minimum parking requirements).   We found almost no data on the effects of these regulations.

*Only a few cities mandate green building (e.g. LEED certification) for private developments, but more cities have incentives for such developments.  LEED certification has been studied somewhat more, and is a bit more controversial (see here for a critique).