Urban Sprawl

Urban Sprawl

Growth and Consequences

By Michael Ginn

There are many causes of urban sprawl. Sprawl is a form of metropolitan growth that is a response to often maze-like sets of economic, social, and political services and to the physical geography of an area. These forces and factors would include Population Growth, a strong economy, the never increasing household incomes, fragmented municipal governments, the construction of roads and the use of public money to construct these roads encourages development, and finally people leaving big cities to areas with more land. The effects of sprawl and its impact are not new by any means; it has been a subject of scrutiny by academics, social critics, and public policy makers since the shift of people and economic activities beyond the city cores. There are many opinions that are divided over social and economic impacts of sprawl.
There are favorable assessments of sprawl’s social impacts, we can reduce the housing gap between blacks and whites, providing housing opportunities for minorities and recent immigrants and increasing the affordability of housing in both suburbs and cities. Along with the good, come the bad; urban sprawl has its downside. You could conceivably have increase of lost community spirit and values, no time to have leisure activities, possibly a loss sense of place. Traffic congestions and longer commute times are certain. Health issues due to the air pollution generated by traffic. Over-crowding of schools, classrooms and fewer teachers to help the youth of tomorrow. You would definitely have higher taxes and higher costs of providing infrastructure, and adverse fiscal impacts on local governments.
Environmental impacts on the ecosystem and other environmental resources are considerable. There is degradation of resources such as surface water and groundwater, air quality, and landscape surfaces. Wildlife is also affected by the loss of habitat and is forced to migrate into other areas. It... [continues]

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