Constituencies for Limitation and Regionalism

Abstract

Citizen responses to two successful growth-management referenda on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, are analyzed. A development moratorium and the creation of a regional land-use management agency represented contrasting strategies for managing growth problems; differences in support between the two approaches are examined. Individuals with direct links to the local economy provided the least support for a moratorium. Regionalism was supported by individuals with strong provincial attitudes because they were aware of the extra local impacts of development and anticipated tangible benefits from regional land-use planning. A two-tier approach was supported by a majority of the respondents, but generally, regionalism was given greater support than was the moratorium.