Suburban Sprawl, another cause of economic distress

by ryan | March 17, 2008 at 03:38 pm

1494 views | 0 Recommendations | 7 comments

The causes of the current financial woes in the US are debatable and varied. Suburban sprawl however is a new factor which has contributed to the current economic climate. Something worth thinking about. And also don't forget about the relationship between suburban sprawl and fuel prices. Richard Florida, however, in is academic optimism reminds us of the potential and durability. of the US economy.

Suburban sprawl was a boon to the industrial economy stimulating consumption of just abput everything that comes of the assembly line - cars, washing machines, kitchen appliances and home electronics (all sold at the local strip mall). But as Brad DeLong points out, sprawl is not only an environmental issue, it's one of a half-dozen key factors behind the current, worsening financial mess (h/t: Alison Kemper).

The filling-up of America so that you can no longer build a detached
single-family house within half-an-hour's driving time of the interesting places
people want to be, and the consequent rise both in current location premia and
expected future location premia.

DeLong is essentially right about this. However, he and many others have gotten extremely negative about future US economic prospects. Let me butt in with my proverbial two cents. There remains tremendous productive potential in America's real economy. The strength of the is, as it has always has been, diversity and innovation. The focus on finance, resources, and
war are terribly unproductive and horribly damaging distractions. The idea that the US can secure hegemony using its military machine and financial shenanigans is an unmitigated disaster. Time to get back to the basics. But who will take us there?

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cynthia yoo

at 15:58 on March 17th, 2008

On the issue of sprawl, PRI did a good show on it recently: To Sprawl or Not to Sprawl

In the second segment: "Robert
Bruegmann makes the case for the opposite point of view in his book
"Sprawl: A History." He says societies have always grown and
ours looks the way it does because suburbs represent the way Americans
like to live."

ryan

at 16:12 on March 17th, 2008

Ah yes, but the question is to we grow outwards or grow upwards. In terms of economic and ecological efficiency density is definitely the way to go.

co-plex

at 17:47 on March 17th, 2008

suburban and most urban [vertical] sprawl is illogical & unsustainable, it defies the laws of nature, which we have obeyed as a species until roughly 8000 years ago [agricultural revolution]. the largest change we could induce as a society would be to revise our zoning codes and carefully reassess our relationship to the land as well as to one another [mixed use and ecologically effective design[. we are seriously dependent on our cars for all mobility and therefore at the mercy of global markets, resources etc...it is time to integrate or simply die off due to our overwhelming inefficiencies... thank you for your article. if anyone is interested in far reaching archiectural treatise please check out the monumental work of Paolo Soleri:
www.arcosanti.org
this is a very interesting example of a prototype township in the heart of the problem, Phoenix AZ, one of the worst (mis) planned sprawls in history .

co-plex has contributed a photo to this story.

ryan

at 22:37 on March 17th, 2008

I think it is a very natural tendency for humans to want to live together; we are by nature pack animals, and this is reflected in density.

Why don't you think vertical sprawl deals with many of the issues you raise, namely the dependence on the automobile and the use of land?

Tony Lynch

at 19:03 on March 17th, 2008

The area this was taken in used to be a forest with a small creek I would play in when I was younger. Now, it has become yet another testament to the housing developments that have slowly taken over the outer-lying areas of Richmond, VA.

Lakeside began as a small working class neighborhood in the 1940's. Since then it has grown to have a population of about 12,000 people since the year 2000. This number continues to grow, and with it, more cookie cutter houses continue to sprout up. The photograph I have displayed here is only a small example of that.

Tony Lynch has contributed a photo to this story.

SecondHand

at 21:59 on March 17th, 2008

Flying into cities such as Phoenix, Los Vegas and Los Angeles to me are the epitome of the term suburban sprawl. When I took this photo I had imagined the city to be row of army barracks stretching into the horizon, with nothing remarkable or outstanding feats of architecture to focus one’s eyes on. As far back as I can remember I have viewed the landscapes of urban cities as inspiration for creative bursts, I remember looking in amazement at postcards and photographs of large city skylines and tried to imagine the excitement and vibrancy their streets, avenues and alleyways held within them! In my opinion LA but more so Phoenix and Los Vegas (the modern day examples of big cities in the western half of the United States) lack that sense of excitement, and instead seem uninspiring and drab. As for an environmental view on these rapidly sprawling cities, I would say they are almost impractical. Newer and ever expanding suburbs are disrupting the wildlife by pushing them out of their natural habitats, building so far out that it makes a good system of public transportation almost impossible. So everyone has to have a car, which causes both tremendous pollutants, and traffic jams! “Cookie cutter” houses all need green lawns, now there’s a water issue. Not to mention the same strip malls every 10 miles form each other! I’m not saying that big more compact cities don’t deal with the same issues or that they are the answer to the problems. I’m just saying that I don’t share the American idea of one day settling down in a house with a two-door garage and a white picket fence!

Second Hand has contributed a photo to this story.

brandon oliver

at 22:27 on March 17th, 2008

This is a photo of a 'planned' community in Langley, BC. There, sprawl has destroyed much of the cities natural wonder. Developers even wanted to 'move' a natural stream so they could build a parking lot.

brandon oliver has contributed a photo to this story.