10.7: Sustainable Cities vs. Suburban Sprawl
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- 213931
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The growth in automobile ownership in the U.S., the new infrastructure systems, and the long-term home financing, as well as the tremendous amount of annexations of territory from surrounding counties, resulted in a dramatic spurt in suburban growth (Figure 12.27). Thus, sprawl is endemic to North American urbanization. Low density and single-family suburban development is a positive aspect of suburbanization. Today, about 50 percent of Americans live in suburbs. Sprawl is less common outside European cities. Yet, the personal and environmental costs of this development are also significant. Noteworthy among these are automobile dependence, increased commute time and cost of gasoline, as well as air pollution and health problems. Even worse, more and more agricultural land is lost in favor of residential developments. Equally important, local governments must spend more money than is collected through taxes to provide services to the suburban areas.
Figure | Suburban sprawl outside of Chicago, Illinois Author | User “Wjmummert” Source | Wikimedia Commons License | Public Domain
Sustainable Cities
The compromise solution is ‘smart growth,’ known as ‘compact city’ in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom. Smart growth is urban planning that concentrates growth in compact areas, strategically designed with adequate infrastructure and walkable, transit-oriented, bicycle-friendly urban centers. Characteristics of smart development include higher density living spaces, preserving open space, farmland, and natural and cultural resources, providing a variety of transportation choices, making development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective, equitably distributing the costs and benefits of development, and encouraging community collaboration in developing decisions. Smart growth and related concepts are not necessarily new, but are a response to car culture and sprawl. Smart growth values long-range, regional considerations of sustainability over a short-term focus. Yet, in practice, the process experiences challenges even from citizens, in some cases expressing their opposition to the local smart growth projects.