High Cost of Urban Sprawl

1656 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Introduction for an urban sprawl research essay

Urban Sprawl is an intricate concept that is mostly known as low density, automobile dependent development beyond the edge of employment and services zones. This type of development is ubiquitous in the United States since the end of World War II. Urban sprawl or suburban sprawl has raised immense number of concerns in various areas, such as: environmental impacts, loss of farmland, traffic problems, urban decline, taxpayer subsidy, loss of community, housing, as well as some unspecific concerns. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate in depth the major reasons that make urban sprawl exorbitant in the aforementioned areas. Environmental Impacts of sprawl United States is facing an environmental disaster, losing farmland, green space, and vital ecosystems due to suburban sprawl. It can be said that if urban area grows arithmetically, the environmental problems due to urban growth increase exponentially. Urban sprawl cause more paved surface which create runoff during rainstorm. This runoff picks up oil, chemicals, and gravel from the pavement and grass. These chemicals would usually be filtered out of the water through the ground or even they might run off into streams. Likewise, algae blooms would be the possible result of fertilizer from the yard that run off into the streams. The algae blooms reduce O2 in the water, killing the fish. Similarly, the water supply for the towns would get contaminated. Moreover, more pavements cause less infiltration for groundwater. Land subsidence is another problem that these areas might face. As the demand or the groundwater increases as a result of urban sprawl, more void in the aquifer would be created. The land compresses, causing flooding issues, cracking of foundations. San... ... middle of paper ... ...ur F. Ulfarsson. "Urban Sprawl and the Cost of Public Services." Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 30.4 (2003): 503-22. Print. Fan, David P., David N. Bengston, Robert S. Potts, and Edward G. Goetz. "USDA." United States Department of Agriculture. USDA, 15 Dec. 2004. Web. 08 Oct. 2011. . Frumkin, H. "Urban Sprawl and Public Health*1." Public Health Reports 117.3 (2002): 201-17. Print. Lopez, R. "Urban Sprawl and Risk for Being Overweight or Obese." American Journal of Public Health 94.9 (2004): 1574-579. Print. Gray, David. "The Intensive Highway System." Eastern Michigan University. EMU, 5 Apr. 2005. Web. 08 Oct. 2011. Woodbury, C. "Impact of Urban Sprawl on Housing and Community Development."American Journal of Public Health 50.3 Pt 1 (1960): 357-63. Print>.

Show More
Related

  • Colorado River Hydrosphere

    877 Words  | 2 Pages

    Modern technology has allowed engineers to drill deep below into aquifers. However, more water is being drawn out of the underground reservoirs than is being filled by rainwater infiltrating and river water soaking underground. This means for the cities to carry on growing technology has to go even deeper. Planners are now beginning to question how much more development can take place as future technology will have limits.

    Read More

  • Globalisation and China’s Environmental Problems

    1755 Words  | 4 Pages

    According to the Worldwatch Institute the rapid industrialization has polluted many lakes and streams resulting in chemical pollution and increased algae blooms leaving the water undrinkable. These combined issues are then causing knock on effects to the aquatic life by staving them of oxygen. Many areas are also suffering with an increase in dust storms; these have been a cause of over agricultural use. These increased storms would not cause many problems but now they can ...

    Read More

  • Suburbanization: Roots Of The American Dream

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    It started with a governmental incentive of getting America out of the Great Depression. Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) was “signed into law by FDR, designed to serve urban needs” (Jackson, 196). This law protected homeownership, not only that, “it introduced, perfected, and proved in practice the feasibility of the long-term, self-amortizing mortgage with uniform payments spread over the whole life of the debt” (Jackson, 196). Because of this new law, it was cheaper to buy a house than rent. Then came the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that encouraged citizens to reside in new residential developments and/or areas with FHA-approved features, like Levittown. Mass-produced cars and cheap gasoline made the option of moving to a suburban area more of a reality for many families because now they can think to live such a lifestyle. With cars, come commuters who needs accessible roads to drive to and from work, to go grocery shopping, etc. which mean that the government need to pave roads for such commute to happen. “The urban expressways led to lower marginal transport costs and greatly stimulated deconcentration,” (Jackson, 191). As Jackson expressed, “The appeal of low-density living over time and across regional, class, and ethnic lines was so powerful that some observers came to regard it as natural and inevitable,” (190). Urban areas were becoming too crowded, too heterogeneous, more and more crimes were breaking out everyday; this is not an ideal living condition for a lot of people so moving to a bigger, more spread out area is a great contestant. Therefore, some of the key factors that explains the growth of the suburbs are housing policy (FHA & HOLC), mass-produced houses, mass-produced cars, cheap fuel, and government funding

    Read More

  • Urban Sprawl: The American Nightmare

    1568 Words  | 4 Pages

    to fund public programs or make general improvements throughout the community. Urban sprawl is expensive not only on people’s wallets, but is taxing on their health, the environment, their relationships. The.. After examining all of the problems associated with urban sprawl it is hard not to question how America lost the genuine communities of old and adopted the new community of

    Read More

  • The Water and Wastewater Crisis in Mexico City

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    Much like Seattle WA, Mexico city is sinking into the ground. Unlike Seattle this is mostly from poor planning and over use of the cities under lying ground water, not sandy; unstable ground as in Seattle’s case. D.F. relies on groundwater for more then 80 persent of its water needs. More then 620 deep wells help produce this quota with energy cost greater than the annual consumption of Haiti. The major problem with pumping water from beneath the city is the sinking effects of the cities soil foundation compacting when it losses its water, much like an empty pop can being stepped on. Parts of the city have plunged more then 30 ft into the subsoil as a result of over pumping.

    Read More

  • The Path of Least Resistance

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gutfreund, Owen D. 20th-Century Sprawl, Highways and the Reshaping of the American Landscape, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

    Read More

  • Gentrification In New York City

    995 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gentrification is the keystone for the progression of the basic standards of living in urban environments. A prerequisite for the advancement of urban areas is an improvement of housing, dining, and general social services. One of the most revered and illustrious examples of gentrification in an urban setting is New York City. New York City’s gentrification projects are seen as a model for gentrification for not only America, but also the rest of the world. Gentrification in an urban setting is much more complex and has deeper ramifications than seen at face value. With changes in housing, modifications to the quality of life in the surrounding area must be considered as well. Constant lifestyle changes in a community can push out life-time

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Suburban Living

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    The perception of the areas we live in, are of major importance to the well being of humans because the areas we choose to live in may very well affect our lifestyle. There are pros and cons to living anywhere in the United States and the most prominent factors are suburban and urban areas. Suburban areas contain more open land, and forests which are crucial factors in our environment, whereas urban areas contain more job opportunities and opportunities for investments, which result in higher payments. The factors associated with urbanization are buildings, factories, and huge amounts of pollution, whereas suburban areas contain more farms, plantations, and crops. Researchers are still debating whether urban

    Read More

  • Gentrification Essay

    1813 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gentrification has been blamed for the displacement of poor communities. However, in a city gentrification has other important characteristics. First, it impacts the demographic of an area in the sense that there is an increase in middle-class income population. Additionally, Randy Shaw notes in his article that demographic shift includes reduction in households’ sizes as well as decline in minorities (Shaw). Most of gentrified areas appear to have whites replacing blacks and other minority

    Read More

  • Gentrification

    1826 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gentrification does not follow traditional urban growth theory, which predicts ?the decline of inner city areas as monied classes move to the metropolitan fringe.? The traditional economic model of real estate says that wealthy people can choose their housing from the total city market (Schwirian 96). Once these people decide to live in the suburbs, the lower social classes move into the old homes of the upper class, essentially handing housing down the socioeconomic ladder. Gentrification is actually a reversal of this process. For a variety of reasons, many inner city areas are becoming more attractive to the wealthy, and they are selecting their housing in those areas (Schwirian 96). The problem is that now when the wealthy take over poor homes and renovate them, the poor cannot afford the housing that the wealthy have abandoned. Many researchers have argued whether gentrification has truly created problems in cities. I will analyze the arguments for and against gentrification by exploring the subject from both sides.

    Read More

  • Sub-urbanization in America

    3293 Words  | 7 Pages

    Suburbanization has been occurring for the last 150 years in this country and in Europe, although the Europeans haven=t had the change that the United States has witnessed. The causes of change on such a larger scale can be pointed at four aspects of metropolitan areas also pointed out in Jackson=s work on suburbanization. The first on is that Americans have such low density residential areas, and often their is not a distinction between urban and rural. Our cities were laid out over space, with even New York City and Philadelphia not as densely populated as some cities in Europe. The next distinguishing factor is a want to own a home. At least two-thirds of all Americans own their own home, with rates less than half of that present in cities in Europe. Next, is the average length that American travel to work, also being much higher than in other countries. Finally, the last distinguishing factor is that social status and income correlate with suburbs, the further away from the central business district...

    Read More

  • Agronomists

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Home | American Society of Agronomy." Home | American Society of Agronomy. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. .

    Read More

  • The Natural History Of Urbanization By Lewis Mumford Summary

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sociologist … explained that open pattern of suburb is because of seeking environment free noise, dirt and overcrowding that are in the centre of cities. He gave examples of these cities as St. John’s wood, Richmond, Hampstead in London. Chestnut Hill and Germantown in Philadelphia. He added that suburban are only for the rich and high class. This plays into the hands of the critical perspectives that, “Cities are not so much the product of a quasi-natural “ecological” unfolding of social differentiation and succession, but of a dynamic of capital investment and disinvestment. City space is acted on primarily as a commodity that is bought and sold for profit, “(Little & McGivern, 2013, p.616).

    Read More

  • Nutrition and Fitness

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to experts, community design, lack of physical activity and increasing levels of car use all negatively affect obesity rates. Many modern cities and towns, especially in places like America and Mexico, were constructed in the ‘automobile era.’ This has resulted in fewer walkable communities in the United States, compared to other countries like France and Italy with many ‘walking streets,’ which directly correlates to their lower obesity rates ("Obesity in America," 2011).... ... middle of paper ...

    Read More

  • Negative Effects of Overpopulation on the Environment

    2004 Words  | 5 Pages

    First of all, overpopulation drastically affects the land. Possibly the most prominent example of the depreciating health and amount of land is the need for developments. Due to the exploding population in the United States, about 1.2 million acres of land every year is being converted to subdivisions, malls, workplaces, roads, parking lots, resorts, and many other developments (“Overpopulation,” Internet). That is a substantial amount of land being overturned to satisfy human desires. To put it in better perspective, between 1982 and 1997, the land mass lost to development is equal to the size of Maine and New Hampshire combined, which is approximately 25 million acres (“Overpopulation,” Internet). While soil is being ruptured for human preference, the number of cities has remarkably modified. In 1975, Mexico City, Tokyo, and New York City were the only cities considered as megacities (“Special,” Internet). In today’s world, that number is considerably small. Now, there are 21 megacities in the world. A megacity is when the population of that city becomes greater than 10 million people (“Special,” Internet). Therefore, the 21 megacities that are currently in the world holds more than 21...

    Read More

More about High Cost of Urban Sprawl

Open Document