Table of Contents

The Upstate of South Carolina is entering a period of sustained economic and population growth that will shape the region for generations. Communities across the Greenville–Spartanburg corridor are already experiencing the early signs of that expansion: new housing developments, infrastructure pressure, rising land values, and increasing public debate about how growth should be managed. This RHGM series examines those issues through real examples from around the country and the Southeast, ultimately proposing a practical vision for how the Upstate—especially Spartanburg County—can become one of the most desirable places in America to live, build a business, and raise a family.

RHGM One Why the Greenville Concurrency Debate Matters: The Opening Question in Rational Growth Management. This article introduces the policy conversation that sparked the series: Greenville County’s exploration of development concurrency as a tool to align infrastructure with growth. It explains what concurrency means, why local officials are considering it, and why the idea appears reasonable at first glance. The article also raises the broader policy questions that must be addressed before adopting any growth-management tool that could affect housing supply, landowners, and long-term affordability.

RHGM Two When Growth Management Goes Wrong: California, Housing Scarcity, and the Cost of Policy Failure. This article examines California’s housing crisis as a cautionary example of how well-intentioned policies can lead to unintended consequences. Over time, regulatory complexity, supply constraints, and fragmented local decision-making contributed to severe housing shortages and rapidly rising housing costs. The article identifies warning signs that rapidly growing regions should recognize early in order to avoid creating similar affordability problems.

RHGM Three Austin’s Lesson: Expanding Housing Supply While Managing Rapid Growth. Austin, Texas offers an example of a rapidly growing metropolitan area that recognized the importance of maintaining housing supply while coordinating infrastructure and transportation planning. This article explores how Austin adjusted land-use policies to allow more housing options and encouraged development near employment centers and transportation corridors. While Austin still faces challenges, its experience demonstrates how flexible housing policy and infrastructure coordination can help moderate price pressure in a growing city.

RHGM Four Best Practices and Caution Flags: What Northern Virginia and Florida Teach About Aligning Growth With Infrastructure. Northern Virginia and Florida provide a set of practical policy tools for managing growth. This article examines corridor-based planning in Arlington County and Fairfax County, as well as infrastructure financing tools such as mobility fees and concurrency systems used in Florida counties including Broward, Miami-Dade, Osceola, and Indian River. The discussion highlights both the strengths and limitations of these approaches, emphasizing that flexible systems tend to work better than rigid growth controls.

RHGM Five Gwinnett County, Georgia: A Southeastern Growth Laboratory and What the Upstate Can Learn. Gwinnett County’s transformation from a rural county into a major metropolitan suburb of Atlanta offers one of the most relevant regional case studies for the Upstate. This article traces Gwinnett’s rapid population growth, the infrastructure challenges it faced, and the planning strategies it adopted over time, including activity centers and corridor development. A comparison between Gwinnett County and Spartanburg County reveals how much opportunity the Upstate still has to guide growth intelligently before infrastructure pressures reach similar levels.

RHGM Six A Vision for Upstate South Carolina and Spartanburg County: Becoming the Most Desirable Place in America to Live, Build, Work, and Raise a Family. The final article synthesizes lessons from all previous examples to present a forward-looking vision for the Upstate. It proposes a balanced growth strategy based on maintaining housing supply, planning development along major corridors, aligning infrastructure investment with growth, and respecting the rights of long-time landowners. The article concludes with a vision of Spartanburg County and the Upstate as a national model for rational high-growth management where economic opportunity, affordability, and quality of life grow together.