Thai protest leader urges prime minister to resign
From Kocha Olarn and Paula Hancocks , CNN updated 11:38 PM EST, Sun December 1, 2013
Riot police use tear gas and water cannon as anti-government protesters try to occupy the government house on December 2,
2013 in Bangkok, Thailand.

What is it? Is it a problem? Why?

 geographic area that is located outside cities and towns
 Characteristics



Wide open spaces of land
Distance between homes/farms is great; could be miles
Land used for agriculture (farming, ranching)


relating to, or located in a city
 Characteristics


Large building
High Population Density
 Metropolis vs. Megalopolis


Metropolis - a large city ; center of activity

Houston; Dallas
Megalopolis- an area where several large cities and their suburbs meet

BosWash-Boston and Washington D.C.

 residential area bordering city
 Characteristics



Lower Population density
Subdivisions
Shopping Malls/Strip malls

 Urban sprawl is unplanned or poorly planned of people and structures over a larger and larger geographic area.
 The many suburbs that have developed just outside of major metropolitan or urban areas are examples of urban sprawl.

USA’s Top Sprawlers –
Urbanized Areas with Greatest Sprawl (1970 to 1990)
Urbanized Area
1. Atlanta, GA
2. Houston, TX
3. New York City, NY-NJ
4. Washington, DC-MD-VA
5. Philadelphia, PA-NJ
6. Los Angeles, CA
7. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
8. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
9. Phoenix, AZ
10. Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN
Sprawl (sq. miles)
701.7
638.7
541.3
450.1
412.4
393.8
372.4
358.7
353.6
341.6
http://sprawlcity.org/charts/topten.html

 The American Dream
 People move out of urban areas because they long for open spaces, yards for children to play in, friendly neighborhoods, and a sense of close-knit community.
"Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them."
— Bill Vaughan http://www.lightstalkers.org/christophgielen

 One major cause of urban sprawl is the increase in the use of automobiles and the improvements made in road construction.
 Cars and fuel have become relatively affordable to everyone and people prefer to drive their own cars rather than depend on public transportation.
www.woai.com

 Negative Impacts
 Strain on the existing infrastructure (basic facilities and services communities need to function such as roads, water, electricity, etc.)
 Increase amounts of commuters from the suburbs to urban employment causes increase in air pollution.
 Creation of residential developments causes loss of agricultural and forest land.

 Government encouragement of development in or close to urban centers.
• Tax breaks
• Subsidies
 Government created boundaries for developers.
•
• Greenbelts
Zoning
 Sustainable communities-creating communities where residents live as well as work in order to reduce the amount of commuters.

Hillsborough, NJ