The Danada Farm: Land Acquisition, Planning, and Politics in Suburbia

Abstract

This article describes an acrimonious conflict between a city trying to expand its tax base and a forest preserve district attempting to curtail urbanization. At issue was the development of a valuable parcel of land. In this analysis of the political history of the land use conflict in rapidly expanding DuPage County, Illinois, I pay special attention to the role of planners, and interpret the actions of both the forest preserve district and the growing suburb in terms of social science models that examine the rationality of the competition between suburbs for growth. I conclude that public organizations that seek to curtail suburban growth must be willing to engage in hardnosed lobbying and political efforts.