Suburban Sprawl: A
Technological Problem?
Controversies Over
Suburban Growth
Is all growth good?
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Environmental, infrastructure, racism, urban ills,
economics, land use
Limiting growth
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Zoning, green boundaries, population caps
Social values
Planned development
Public versus private good
Shrinking farm lands/growing populations
LA: Poster Child for Sprawl
Key Terms
Fringe community: a neighborhood
that exists outside of the city and
has fields and forests surrounding
it.
Suburbia: collective group of
communities that exist on the edge
of a large city.
Key Terms
Sprawl: the development of rural
land for residential use.
Anti-sprawl: a view supported by
individuals who object to continued
spreading at the edge of cities.
Why Have Suburbs Become so
Popular?
Wide open spaces
The “American Dream”
Neighboring fields and
forests
Illusion of semi-rural life
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“Farmettes”
Suburbs is where
“builders” build homes
Inner-city flight
Search for the “Good
Life”
Suburban Trends
Technologically dependant on city
Dependant on public investment in
roads/schools
Separated by affluence/class distinction
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More exclusive developments
Earthen barriers
Privacy fences
Gated/fenced communities (Rosemont)
The allusion of a rural lifestyle without the
discomforts
Population growth moving to the suburbs
Metropolitan areas see suburban
development as progress
The Problem in the
“Burbs”
Loss of open space, traffic
congestion, crowded schools
and air pollution from auto
emissions are symptoms of the
growing national disease known
as urban sprawl.
Impacts of Suburban
Growth
More people and less farm land
Large lots increase home costs
Pressure on school systems
Need for new infrastructure
Environmental damage
Ecological damage
Wildlife damage

Or, extinction
Rising property taxes
Impacts of Suburban
Growth (cont.)
Strain on cities
Strain on nature (i.e., water)
Greater traffic congestion
Loss of open space
Loss of small town ambiance

Bringing crime to small towns
Lot’s of grass and no place to play
Increased need for cars

More auto pollution
Should community residents
absorb growth or put up barriers
to new development?
Statistics (1970-1990)
30,000 square miles (19
million acres) of rural
lands became urban
Urban density
decreased by 23%

Costs the city core
U.S. population
increased by 22%
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Number miles driven
increased by 98%
Number cars/trucks
increased by 20 million
Miles driven growing 8
times faster than pop.
Problem: Construction
Runoff
Problem: Automobiles
After WWII urban planning
separated shopping, homes,
businesses, work/home,
recreation areas, industrial
areas.
Making people dependant on
cars
The Geography of
Nowhere (Kunstler)
Kunstler traces the development of our modern
"car culture" to the birth of the suburbs as a
pastoral escape from the tenaments and factories
of early 20th century cities.
The industrial age brought about many smelly,
noisy factories, often built in the heart of the city.
Small suburban communities--serviced primarily by
train--were green and quiet escapes from the dirty
and overcrowded cities.

Roads in these communities were narrow, and mostly
served to get people and goods to and from the railroad
station on the edge of town.
Homes for Cars
To illustrate how different things are
now, imagine if we had to run train
tracks to every single building in town,
and imagine storing railroad cars in
front of all the houses in town.

We've done just that with our cars.
How Did the
Government Contribute?
Major government policies helped bring about
our dependence on cars.

During the Great Depression, the government
sought to spur economic growth by investing in
new highways.
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Created immediate jobs during their construction
Created secondary economic boost by promoting the sale
of new cars.
Caused demise of railroads and other public
transportation.
We can see the results today--cars are everywhere, but
travel by train is almost unthinkable, and other public
transportation systems are expensive by comparison and
plagued with problems.
Problems-Solutions and
More Problems
Guaranteed loans for new homes also contributed
to suburban growth
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Again, these loans spurred the economy.
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Increased demand for new home construction
Resulting in construction jobs and demands for raw materials.
However, such programs subsidized new building at the
expense of existing homes and buildings.
With no money to repair and upgrade older homes, downtowns
struggled to survive.
At the same time, more and more people moved to artificiallyin-expensive new homes on the outskirts of town.
Dependence on Cars
The combination of new roads, new cars and new
home construction led to an increasing
dependence on automobiles.
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New suburban developments often ignore other modes
of transport to provide for the safe movement of cars.
In fact, modern roads are designed primarily for the
safety and comfort of high-speed motor traffic.
Pedestrian traffic is considered a nuisance and danger
to the safe and efficient movement of cars.
Phoenix: A Case Study
Overwhelming Mother Nature
A fragile water supply
Overwhelming needs for infrastructure
development

Schools, roads, public services
Pollution/unclean air days
Animal encounters
Congestion
Some Argue that Suburbs
Aren’t the Problem
U.S. experiences more housing
development during 1920-1950
Actually housing utilizes a small part of
overall land use in U.S.
Less than 5% of the nation is developed
¾ of the population live on 3.5% of land
Only ¼ of farmland loss since 1945 is
due to the development of suburbs
Suburbs Aren’t the
Problem
Car usage is the problem
A mobile society
Most suburb development costs are passed on to
home buyers
Suburbs aren’t responsible for crumbling cities

People left cities because they were crumbling
Management of Growth
Growth (urban) boundaries
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Have not slowed growth
Managed growth
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19 States manage development
Green belts
Mass transit development
Protection and preservation of farmland,
forestland, and natural areas
Educating the public about growth management
Minimizing Sprawl
Principles that can help minimize sprawl
and encourage smarter growth.
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Open Space Protection: Sprawl is carving
up our open spaces, wildlife habitat,
wetlands and farm land.
Land Use Planning: Sound planning can
help communities grow efficiently by
encouraging development where
infrastructure (roads, schools and water
treatment facilities) already exists. This
type of planning helps keep city centers
alive and established communities vital.
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Portland
Minimizing Sprawl
Principles that can help minimize sprawl
and encourage smarter growth (cont.).
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Transportation Planning: Sprawl spreads
out everything, making trips longer and
driving mandatory.

The average American driver spends 443 hours
every year in his/her car.
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That's 55 eight-hour work days, or 11 weeks of
work!
Community Revitalization: States must
invest in their downtowns and inner
suburbs. Some state decision-makers are
starting to understand that this is part of
the equation.
Typical Suburban
Development
High Density Suburban
Development
Mixed Use Development
Pedestrian Friendly
Development
Suburban Decay!
What we want versus what we buy
Suburbs are 2/3 grass and children have no
place to play except streets
The cycle from birth to “pulling down” has
shortened
Many suggest the “village”
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5-6 units per acre (versus 1-2)
Multiple types of homes (detached, row houses,
apartments, flats above garages, shops at the
center
Seaside Florida, Celebration, Florida
Traditional”little town” America
Ways to Fix the Suburbs
Give up the big lawns
Bring back the corner store
Make streets narrow (suburbs are for cars/not
people)
Drop the Cul-de-sac
Draw boundaries for growth
Hide the garage
Mix housing types
Plant trees curbside
Ways to Fix the Suburbs
Plan for mass transit
Make town or village centers
Shrink parking lots
Link work to the home
Turn down the lights
Think green
The Start of a New
Trend
“The idea that urban living is a second-best
choice is not one that strikes a chord with
growing numbers of people under age 40.
Nor any longer with many of those much
older for whom the bright lights (and public
transport) of cities are so attractive. “With
so much happening downtown, who wants
to live in the sticks?”