ABSTRACT:Cities and states are searching for responses to the demands of urban growth which will allow growth to continue while diminishing the associated problems. The broad policy choices center on the need to continue private development efficiency through the free market and the need to protect the public interest equity through public regulatory protection. Growth politics is a politicized arena, reflecting the biases exhibited within local government. While the growth machine and antigrowth coalition contribute to growth politics, this is not the only plausible scenario. Local government may act as a conservative growth facilitator in the traditional growth politics explanation, but local government can also seek to manage growth using some of the same political machinations. One alternative is for state government to assist local government to balance economic and political rationality through mandated state growth standards. This can be accomplished by using a policy vehicle such as comprehensive planning. In this way, government moves beyond the growth machine scenario and local government may act as a growth manager. Intergovernmental policy support can be an important political force in shaping growth politics.