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Like other have already said, sprawl is wasteful of our natural resources and it usually contributes more than its fair share of pollution (especially to the air). It's also an expensive model to implement from an infrastructure model and it's going to be really expensive in the future to maintain (think roads, sewer lines, power lines and city services).
I agree that sprawl is used to bash many cities on C-D. Keep in mind that sprawl, as we commonly know it, is not a function of any particular city or region but rather of a time. Sprawl typically refers to post WWII development where the automobile took on a much larger role in the development of our cities as pushed by General Motors and subsidized by our government at all levels. The irony in that later fact is that it's now typically people in the suburbs who decry "socialism" while they are recipients of one of the largest socially funded experiments in the history of our country.
I'm not saying all suburbs are bad...but here just some of the neg's of sprawl. I'm going to paint with a wide brush...so don't be offended if your sprawling suburb is somehow different.
Sprawl is unsustainable development. Pure and simple.
Sprawl is also typically strictly autocentric development.
Sprawl also perpetuates the problem of..."why stay and help change the problems in my current neighborhood when I can run over here to greener pastures"
Sprawl creates a greater tax burden as these new lands require roads and utilities.
Sprawl suburbs are typically devoid of character and culture... They really don't build them like they used to.
Sprawl suburbs are not designed for pedestrians, typically have no identifiable walkable main st or city center. And if it does, it's usually that faux "disneyland" crap.
The only people I see against it are those who want to preserve living in such locations and urban dwellers wantig to imt people chocie because of their decaying conditions.Basically they will justify it in anyway they can.Regardless;its been the popualr choice since WWII when mnaysaw what could be after experiencigthe ant ple of density.
Urban sprawl is okay to me. I think cities should aim for densities of 5,000 or more. I think that leaves plenty of room for people to have yards and trees and still be condusive to walkable, pedestrian friendly, public transit-oriented development-which I think is very important for vibrancy.
When I go shopping I usually go for more than just a loaf of bread or a quart of milk and get more than I could possibly carry so would need the car anyway.
If I need just one or 2 things I get it on the way home from work.
Some people like being able to use their car rather than rely on public transit to get them everywhere.
I am on 3 1/2 acres, a thousand yards or so from a 31,000 acre preserve yet within 1 1/2 from schools, supermarket and other stores.
What some call sprawl others call home.
3 1/2 acres is not sprawl. it is rural.
also just because you cannot contemplate shopping without a car, doesn't mean it isn't easily doable and that millions of people do not do it.
People who drive their car to go shopping normally go once a month... or even less frequently. loading up and then going back when you're running low.
People who walk to go shopping normally shop about once a week, if not more. The result is much smaller trips that are easily accomplished without a car, especially considering i have to walk only about 1/4 of a mile to get to multiple shopping locations including a farmer's market. bigger trips when i actually go to the supermarket which is less than a 1/2 a mile away i take my foldable shopping cart, which anyone in the city knows about. i've attached a picture as i imagine you probably don't know what they are out in the country.
personally i find this way of shopping to much more convenient and cost effective. shopping isn't a 3 hr chore that you do once a month and spend 100s of dollars on in the city. when you don't have sprawl shopping is an enjoyable half an hour errand that you do weekly. as we're buying groceries for a much smaller time period we often only buy whichever meat is on sale. if i wanted chicken breasts but thighs are sale, i'll get the thighs and chances are next week the breasts will be on sale.
you're also able to incorporate fresh fruit and vegetables in your diet much easier when you have a farmer's market right around the corner. we go there weekly to stock up and usually spend less than 20 bucks to return home with our bags bulging with produce. a whole bushel of broccoli costs a buck, 4 red bell peppers for a buck, it's ridiculous how much cheaper it is than a grocery store.
plus if we ever find we want to make something and we don't have something we need, we're just a short walk away from having it.
both my mother and my grandmother have liked a lot of things about living in the suburbs since they've moved there, but they both def hate the new way they have to shop.
my grandfather who is from italy used to be able to go to the local stores around him and get all kinds of varieties of food that he now can't find in supermarkets. every time we go visit him i'm always getting him his proscuito, sopresseta, aged provolone, fresh rabbit, figs, etc.
when you've got density of 10,000 ppsm and you're in an italian enclave you can have a succesful business where all you are is a butcher, or a baker, or a cheese maker. this isn't stuff of the past, this still exists in philly. in sprawl? no way. your only options are the huge supermarkets.
i mean people talk about variety like they have it in the super market. please. there's variety sure, you have a whole aisle of commercially made cookies and commercially made cereal. basically a bunch of variety of the same disgusting processed crap.
if you really want variety. you come to the city. there's an asian grocer a few blocks away from me and i'm still not exactly sure what half the stuff in that place are, but if i wanted fresh eels or fresh squid for some reason i have that option a 10 min walk away, good luck getting some fresh eel at walmart.
I look at sprawl from a personal perspective. I don't like it because of where I live. I live in a metropolitan area that is considered the poster child for sprawl(metropolitan Atlanta). Things are so far away. A car is pretty much compulsory in order to get around. You sit in traffic for an hour to get to work. Public transportation is pretty much a joke. It is dangerous to ride a bicycle where it is intended(on the roads). I don't have a car. I don't have a house(I rent an apartment). I don't like sitting in traffic for an hour. I rent an apartment near my university so that I can get to class. I also work for the university, so I don't have to sit in traffic for an hour. Still, sprawl is of no help to ME. If I want to get to places, it takes a long time because everything is so spread out. I rarely go to the grocery store because it is so far away. I can't take the bus to Kroger because there are no buses that go there. I use a bicycle to get around and it isn't fun because by law, I should be on the road, not the sidewalk. I could easily get hit by a car. I am stuck in the suburbs because I don't have the money to live anywhere else. Atlanta is getting more expensive now and the suburbs have cheap apartment complexes. My university is in the suburbs and it would cost alot of money to transfer, so I am stuck until I graduate.
Last edited by green_mariner; 03-15-2011 at 10:38 AM..
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I think the reason why sprawl is so wide spread here has to do with the transient nature of our population. I grew up in Eastern Europe, in a neighborhood that makes East St. Louis look like a resort town. However there was very little or no turnover in residents. Not because people didn't want to move to the suburbs, but because they couldn't. We didn't have the infrastructure(roads, public transit, schools, employment centers) that were accesible to the average populace.
And I think due to the recession and real estate bust that is what will happen here, albeit slowly. I think young adults these days are much more urban centric and environment concious than their counterparts post Wold War II.
I look at sprawl from a personal perspective. I don't like it because of where I live. I live in a metropolitan area that is considered the poster child for sprawl(metropolitan Atlanta). Things are so far away. A car is pretty much compulsory in order to get around. You sit in traffic for an hour to get to work. Public transportation is pretty much a joke. It is dangerous to ride a bicycle where it is intended(on the roads). I don't have a car. I don't have a house(I rent an apartment). I don't like sitting in traffic for an hour. I rent an apartment near my university so that I can get to class. I also work for the university, so I don't have to sit in traffic for an hour. Still, sprawl is of no help to ME. If I want to get to places, it takes a long time because everything is so spread out. I rarely go to the grocery store because it is so far away. I can't take the bus to Kroger because there are no buses that go there. I use a bicycle to get around and it isn't fun because by law, I should be on the road, not the sidewalk. I could easily get hit by a car. I am stuck in the suburbs because I don't have the money to live anywhere else. Atlanta is getting more expensive now and the suburbs have cheap apartment complexes. My university is in the suburbs and it would cost alot of money to transfer, so I am stuck until I graduate.
In a nutshell a great argument against sprawl. Now times this story by the number of cities similar, then by the number of residents affected. You'll get a pretty compelling number.
I've lived in sprawl my whole life and I love it and never get stuck in traffic. Thank god for the suburbs.
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