Many states in the USA attempt to man- age urban growth so that development is directed to urban areas equipped to accommodate development, and rural lands are preserved for resource and other non-urban uses. The state of Ore- gon is entering its third decade of what many commentators describe as the nation’s most aggressive urban growth management programme administered statewide. This article reports a recent evaluation of the effectiveness of the state urban growth management poli- cies as they are implemented by the metropolitan Portland area. The metro- politan Portland area contains the largest population, employment and land base within a single urban growth boundary in the USA. Using primary data collection and analysis, the effec- tiveness of the urban growth manage- ment and resource land preservation effort is assessed. Nearly all regional development has been directed to the urban growth boundary and away from resource lands. Many problems with administration are found, however. Policy implications are suggested. The first author is professor of city plan- ning, public policy, and international affairs in the City Planning Program, College of Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technol- ogy, Atlanta, GA 30332-0155, USA. The second author is vice president and prin- cipal of EC0 Northwest, an urban planning and economics firm headquartered in Eugene, OR, USA. Support for this research was provided by continued on page 294 Assessing urban growth management The case of Portland, Oregon, the USA’s largest urban growth boundary zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHG Arthur C. Nelson and Terry Moore Urban growth management in the USA is applied sporadically. Unlike the UK, which applies urban growth management and rural land preservation policies nationwide, such policies are applied in only a few states. The state with the longest continuing history of statewide growth management and rural land preservation is Oregon.’ It is a state of about 3 million residents in an area roughly equivalent in size to the UK or the former Federal Republic of Germany, which each has more than 50 million residents. Despite its small population, Oregon is the recognized leader in growth management in the USA.* Oregon uses urban growth management to: direct the regional demand for urban development into areas con- tained by urban growth boundaries (UGBs) and away from resource lands; restrict exurban (beyond UGB) development so that it is compatible with resource activities; and restrict resource lands to resource activities.” Many states are now implementing features of Oregon’s growth man- agement and rural preservation policies, including Florida, Georgia, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington. Much can be learned by these and other states about the effectiveness of growth management policies applied in Oregon. Oregon is entering its third decade of growth management and resource land preservation. Yet, until recently, there has been no systematic assessment of its effectiveness. Are urban local governments effective in directing growth to UGBs and away from resource lands? Is the administration of such policies fulfilling statewide aims, or under- mining them? This article assesses the effectiveness of the growth management and resource lands preservation policy of metropolitan Portland, Oregon. It is the first study to assess urban development patterns associated with statewide growth management policy in a 0264-8377/93/040293-l 0 0 1993 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd 293