findings and purpose

findings and purpose Sec. 701. (a) The Congress finds that a combination of economic, social, governmental, and technological forces have caused a rapid expansion of the Nation’s urban areas, which has created critical problems of service and finance for all levels of government and which, combined with a rapid population growth in such areas, threatens severe problems of urban and suburban living, including the loss of 75 Stat. 184 valuable open-space land in such areas, for the preponderant majority of the Nation’s present and future population. (b) It is the purpose of this title to help curb urban sprawl and prevent the spread of urban blight and deterioration, to encourage more economic and desirable urban development, and to help provide necessary recreational, conservation, and scenic areas by assisting State and local governments in taking prompt action to preserve open-space land which is essential to the proper long-range development and welfare of the Nation’s urban areas, in accordance with plans for the allocation of such land for open-space purposes.