Costs of Sprawl, 2000

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Costs of Sprawl, 2000

R. W. Burchell / G. Lowenstein / W. R. Dolphin / C. C. Galley / A. Downs

Sprawl is spread-out development that consumes significant amounts of natural and man-made resources, including land and public works infrastructure of various types. Sprawl also adds to overall travel costs due to increasing use of the automobile to access work and residence locations more widely spaced due to the sprawl phenomenon. Furthermore, sprawl appears to deconcentrate centers and takes away from the multiplicity of purpose that neighborhoods once delivered. Yet sprawl has benefits. It offers access to less-expensive housing and opportunities for homeownership at the periphery of metropolitan areas. It provides congestion management in automobile- dominated metropolitan areas by creating the suburban-to-suburban trip and by better equalizing the percentages of the commuting population involved in reverse and forward commutes. To date, the sprawl issue has been approached from polar opposite viewpoints. Those against sprawl decry its resource consumption, contribution to urban ills, and the public's distaste for it. Those who are comfortable with sprawl cite its ability to deliver homeownership, the potential for real estate investment gains, and life style satisfaction.