Community Growth Gaming

Abstract

Since the late 1 970s, many studies have debated the pros and cons of community growth control/management, and quite a few of them made allegations about citizen motivations underlying growth control. Most such allegations, however, are commentators' speculations based on effects of growth control. I nstead, this article presents empirical research that attempts to determine citizen motivation (intent) by directly examining individuals' perceptions and attitudes toward growth control. A specially designed gaming method was used to elicit individuals' feelings for socially sensitive issues; it was applied to survey research of suburban residents' motivations for community growth control in the San Francisco Bay Area, California. In contrast to the popular allegations of growth control critics, this research revealed that citizens who oppose growth are not necessarily limited to the elite class of homeowners, and, further, that they are motivated primarily to protect the family-oriented life-style that a suburban community can offer.