What Is Sprawl?
Urban sprawl, or suburban sprawl, is the spread of populations away from urban centers and into large, relatively sparsely populated tracts of land. It is characterized by the replacement of agricultural lands or wilderness areas with housing developments and suburbs.
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Automobile Dependency
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Sprawl is made possible by the automobile. Suburbs are possible because people are able to drive long distances to work or to stores. In turn, people living in suburbs often live too far from their place of work or even from stores, schools or hospitals to walk.
Health Effects
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As people in sprawling neighborhoods drive more and walk less, they have higher rates of obesity and heart disease than people in urban or rural areas. They also suffer more traffic-related injuries and fatalities.
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Environmental Impacts
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Sprawl causes huge amounts of habitat destruction and fragmentation simply from the building of housing developments and roads. Residents of sprawling neighborhoods also produce more pollution and greenhouse gases per person.
Infrastructure Costs
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Sprawling neighborhoods have a significantly higher infrastructure cost per person. Because people are spread out more, each additional home requires more plumbing, roads and power lines than in densely populated urban areas.
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