Are the chicagoland burbs sprawling unchecked (real estate market, employment, bankrupt)

[NJ Chutzpah]

Are the chicagoland burbs sprawling unchecked much like in the Northeast Corridor?

Or are they much more condensed and tightly packed into an area surrounding chicago?

Is there a clear division between the burbs and the country?

[Lookout Kid]

Yeah, pretty much. Or they were before the housing crisis (and now the ensuing economic crisis) put a damper on things.

There are some more compact burbs that branch out along the lakefront and train lines, but otherwise it's pretty standard urban sprawl in "Chicagoland".

[Chicago60614]

Yeah, the outter 20-25 miles of sprawl is really going every which way.

[gardener34]

the sprawl is over. the real estate market crashed. The developers are all going bankrupt. The single good thing to come out of the real estate market crash...

[Drover]

Suburbia is sprawling but it is not sprawling "unchecked." Like most other suburban areas, its spread is checked by practical and economic considerations such as supply and demand, availability of financial resources, access to transportation, access to major employment centers, and competing uses for the land other than suburban development (i.e. agriculture).