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The Character of Residential Developanent The lack of public polic�r on most aspects of inetropolitan development appears to be a major deterrent to mor. e coherent metropolitan develop- ment. Many private interests , as well as government agencies , would welcome anc3 need such policies to guide them in their decisions. With- out such policies, it is fruitless and unrealistic to seek support for ' nebulous community goals like "a better environment". During thP Joint Program, it is essential that these groups, Particularly the builders and lenders , be deeply involved in thc goal, policy, and plan formulation � phases. A majar stumbling block to more coher�nt and integrated suburban residential development is the lack of adequate development capital. Because large investments are required at the initial stage of develop- ment (if all the necessary and desired facilities are to be provided), the community and the builder frequently provide only the minimum facili- ties, By the time a community can afford to provide other facilities, the costs of doing so may have become exhorbitant and any attempt to physically integrate the facility into the community may pose difficult problems. Some means must be found to raise the capital required to finance the initial large-scale investments for all the necessary and desired facilities of an urban area. MPC should take an active role in attem�ting to find an effective, equitable solution. The basic character of a new urbanizing area is �stablished during the early stage of development; yet, typica].ly at this stage, the community is ill prepared to control its destiny. Normally, it suffers from an in- adequate farm of government and financial resources , and the absence of a knowledgeable strong leadership element in the community. By the time some of these deficiencies have been remedied, the community usually has lost many opportunities in ordering its environment. (Obviously a few communities have ma.naged. However, they are the exceptions. ) Although efforts can and should be made to help local governments in the early stage of urbanization, it may be more fruitful for MPC to establish leadership through other channels. "Higher" governmental units, the building industry, and the lending field appear to be prime choices to help provide the necessary leadership. There will probably alvcrays be a governmental organization lag. Thus, barring major governmental structural changes in the area, the possibility of adequately gearing up local governments to meet the challenges of urbanization prior to development does not seem too promising. Sufficient financial r.esources will most likely have to come from sources outside the individual community. The suburbs look like they do because builders and lenders think sub- division design and housing types common since World War II are satisfactory. Competition within the lending field discourages the inno- vator and tends to suppoxt the prevailing principles, standards, and practices in the evaluation process. This situation does have one advan- tage, however; once a significant group of firms adopt a par�tiicular 0 ,