Is 'urban sprawl' becoming a problem in America?

Urban sprawl is definitely an issue in this country. Since our population continues to grow, our society must embrace smart growth. Investments in mass transit, town centers, and vertical growth are necessary in most urban markets in order to prevent environmental and economic problems.

Where I live, developers and civic governments conspire to cover some of the finest farmland in the world with town houses, while vegetables that were traditionally grown locally gets imported from thousands of miles away. It's not like there's no other land available, its just that the farmland is flat and easy to build on. What a great plan.

Yes, urban sprawl is a problem, and it's only getting worse. Longer commute times for those who live in the suburbs, lower air quality, and a general assault on peace and quiet. My own personal objection is to the people who used to live in the cities or suburbs, and now have decided to build a house out in the country (along with ample amounts of land), only to take away all my hunting ground.

I think its a big problem, but Americans don't have the guts, brains, or intelligence to tackle it. . .anything that dares to question or get in the way of 'business as usual' gets the bland label of leftist extremism. . .long commutes, traffic, and poor planning contribute heavily to many aspects of 'quality of life' issues. . .

It certainly is a big problem affecting every metro area in the country. In Boston people have up to 2 hour commutes each way coming from as far as New Hampshire and Maine. Valuable woodlands and farmland are being eaten up by McMansions and shopping malls. It needs to be nationally adressed as the existing infrastructure will not be able to handle this kind of growth in the future, the price of fuel is going up, many cities will experience severe water shortages, you cannot build 16 lane highways, and there's no more room left to build new ones. Maybe more research should be done on high speed rail corridors? Just some forethought anyhow.

This has been a problem for years; however, $3 and $4 a gallon gasoline shall solve the problem!

Suburban sprawl is a much worse problem.

When cities are 100 miles across like mine (Phoenix, AZ), it gets really hard to A) get around, and B) breathe clean air. When my finances permit (e.g. winning the lottery), I intend to get the heck out anf find a quite little place (if there are any left) for me to continue my assault on people's sensibilities in here. :)

I dont like it where I live because it's getting out of control. I can only imagine that it's the same in other parts of the country as well. More people in the suburbs make it more and more like urban area with urban issues, good and bad coming out of it all. Metro DC is being developed to death. Housing prices are crazy, land that once had trees and greenery are now 500K min. housing and WalMarts, Chipolte's and Home Depots. Roads need to be expanded for new people and displaced deer make for constant weekly road kill. There's crime in ths suburbs that rivals city crime. There are plenty of city areas that could be developed. Let people move back into urban areas and revitalize them.

I sound like a broken record if you have read my other posts, but this is only a major problem in the new cities ths ones of the West and South. The cities are really overgrown suburbs with no good zoning laws. They build subdivisions with 1 acre lots in the middle of the city. In the older more organized cities, they knew what they were doing. The cities were started in the centers, and as time passed, and the population grew, the city annexed and expanded outward, but they still built close enough together. Then in the 50's, many of the citizens of those cities, moved to the suburbs, with the larger lots and homes, that where spread out a little more, just outside of the city. That is a much more organized and smart way. But i don't think it is something you can repeat. Many of the people moving to the new cities come from where else, the old cities. Most of them from the suburbs, so they want to continue to live in the suburbs. But because the new cities have no real center and aren... Read more

Not as yet but it will be soon here in the Phoenix area. We are all ready seeing the signs of it being a problem with wildlife (coyotes, cougars, etc.) spotted in North Scottsdale. Gilbert and Chandler are growing fast and the only thing stopping them is the Gila River Indian Community. Phoenix is expanding north and will soon run out of room because of the mountains, and out west, Buckeye is growing and at least four new Communites have been planned to be built in that are in the next two years. Predictions say that there will be no open land between Phoenix and Tucson in the next 20 years. This is only an example. This is a world wide problem.

More is made out of this than should be. Food production is leaning further away from family farms and closer to multi-level hydroponics. Land reclamation will shift around sporadically (as it always has) to adjust with the times. Economic need has a way of satisfying itself.

It is becoming not just a problem,but a serious threat.Beyond being ugly-overcrowded areas breed disease and death.One reason our drinking water is now substandard is that paving everything causes runoff and destroys natural aquifers that help clean water without using tons of harmful chemicals.Trees are very beneficial to humans as they provide oxygen and remove carbon dioxide from the air.Ruining the little land left to build another Wallmart or strip mall just doesn't make good sense.If you want to create jobs there are plenty of other ways to do that.Fix up existing structures and make them more energy efficient.Research clean energy,plant trees etc.

Definitely. It seems as if there is a relentless program to desecrate the environment by putting up more and more tract homes and townhouse developments. We moved from Virgina to Pennsylvania about three years ago to escape the seemingly endless proliferation of new, rather badly built homes in the Northern Virginia area. In so doing, we became part of the problem in rural Pennsylvania (i.e., influx of people looking for a peaceful, somewhat bucolic atmosphere). So what's the result? We now have a Super WalMart going up about a mile and a half down the road, and there are several new housing developments (thankfully, almost all single family, fairly decently built) withing about ten miles. Anyway, yes, urban sprawl is a problem. Kamylienne brings out a good point - a lot of areas within cities are just being abandoned rather than being rehabilitated. There's plenty ofspace available within cities to rebuild or renovate, but instead, we just keep on spreading like a cancer to th... Read more

I wasn't at all surprised when that report came out saying that urban sprawl promoted obesity. It's rampant where I live and although we have a great transit system here, none of the buses go out to the developing areas. The problem with a lot of this sprawl is that you HAVE to drive everywhere. We live in one of these new neighborhoods with new houses, annoyingly quaint street names and boring nature trails. To get to town for groceries, gas or anything else, we have to drive down a busy road which negates any chance of walking to the store. The road is, of course, not designed to handle the increase of traffic nor are there any parks nearby. Actually there is, but a cornfield blocks it. The result is that it takes several minutes to get to a store or park and all require using a car. I just don't think that much planning goes into some of these planned communities. They're hard to get to, isolating and most of them all look the same.

It already is a problem but what are we supposed to do about it? People need to live somewhere after all.

It's definitely not a terribly positive thing by most means, but I don't think it has yet reached the point of national problem so to speak.

I definately think this is a HUGE and out of control problem in central Florida, and I am tired of it ! Still trying to figure out how I can do my part to stop it if there is anything I can do. :(

yes I do. I can remember when I was a kid, there were lots of farms. Now, the yuppies cannot bear living in the city,{my goodness, they are just simply too good for that}. the farms are getting more rare to see. It is now one town after another with all the new houses, that we MUST have, that are outrageously priced. it is now impossible for a lower income family to live in the what used to be smaller outside towns. Back when I was growing up, you could buy a house just about anywhere and it would be affordable. Not anymore. A dinky ranch house from the 50s or 60s has ridiculous price tag on it.just because it is outside of the city.If we picked up our old city house and dropped it in a neighboring town it would go up in value at least 20 thousand dollars for the same house.Not fair. It is too bad we have to see our farms be a thing of the past just so the yuppies can have a new house.

I'm most certainly not a tree hugger. The destruction of our hardwood forests is rampant. There are very few if any laws, local or federal that oversee the developers. In our town alone we lose hundreds of acres every year to developers that clearcut forests for the tax right off. The occupancy rate for commercial buildings is at an all time low, yet they keep building because of the tax advantages. This is not tied to any political party. This is simply greed and nothing more. When the green is gone it will be to late, but then again maybe we can just paint the asphalt green.

I don't think it's a problem. I question those who talk of overpopulation and such. Sounds to me like a prelude to mass murder. As far as urban sprawl, I am seriously considering moving to a rural area, but that doesn;t mean that urban living is necessarily a bad thing. I just like my peace and quiet. Those who enjoy the city life, more power to em.

Another problem which seems to accompany urban sprawl (at least from what I can tell in Baltimore) is that they're all about tearing down trees to develop new areas to live in, but they're not doing anything about the boarded-up row houses in the city, creating a breeding ground for crime in the city. There are several blocks of JUST graffiti-covered boarded-up houses, but they don't tear these places down to rebuild and revitalize the area. What a waste.

I live in Miami, a very big city that is one of the fastest growing in the country. I'm not against development and sprawl, but the big problem comes when municipal governments approve of huge developments without building schools, roads, and green spaces to accompany the development. In Miami-Dade county where I live, the western areas are just zero-lot line tract housing. Developers put a lot of people into small pieces of land; the result being that schools are full and the traffic situation is getting even worse. Smart development is a good strategy. Build housing, but along with it public areas, parks, schools and roads that can support the population increase.

I think it's becoming a problem because it's not planned very well. Firstly, nothing is within walking distance in the suburbs and usually roads don't even have sidewalks. Therefore, people have to drive everywhere and they don't get enough exercise. Also, public transportation isn't used effectively to get people to work so traffic is becoming a huge problem thanks to urban sprawl. In the future, communities must be better planned so that things are within walking distance (please, no more strip malls), including public transportation.