Urban Sprawl

Definition Our textbook definition for urban sprawl is the rapid, often poorly planned spread of development from an urban area outward into rural areas.

Metropolitan Area Metropolitan area is defined as a major population center made up of a large city and the smaller suburbs and towns that surround it. Today 8 out of 10 people in the United States and Canada live in a metropolitan area. Suburb is defined as a developed area at the edge of the city that is mostly for housing and businesses. These suburbs are also part of the metropolitan area.

Graphic Organizer pg. 79

Urban Core When talking about a large city like Detroit. The “walkable” part of the city is known as the urban core. People often think of the urban core as the “downtown” or business district In the photo people are walking on Woodward Avenue between Comerica Park and the Fox Theatre.

Urban Fringe As cars were becoming part of American life people began to build housing farther away from the urban core. These suburbs formed the urban fringe. The picture shows an example of an urban fringe city’s downtown area.

Rural Fringe Beyond the urban fringe lies an area with fewer people. Here, small towns mix with farms and open space. These less developed areas form the rural fringe around a metropolitan area. The rural fringe and urban fringe are all connected by roads, freeway, and highways.

Other definitions we need to know Land use planning- back in chapter 2 we defined land use as the way people use the land they live on to meet their needs. For this chapter think of land use planning is the way people figure out the best way to develop the land in the most practical way.

Continued Zoning ordinances specify whether zones can be used for residential or commercial purposes, and may also regulate lot size, placement, bulk (how big it is and the height of certain structures. Building codes are sets of rules that specify the minimum standards for constructed objects such as buildings and houses.

Facts about Urban Sprawl Urban Sprawl is all around us. We have grown accustomed to it because we believe that having stores like Target and Walmart around is normal. Although it is nice to have everything around us it has some astounding facts surrounding it. It has cost Americans $87 billion dollars in lost productivity (travel time in between work, shopping is one example of lost productivity) The cost of living is 18% higher The pollution per household has gone up 4 times more than usual. There is a 33% higher risk of obesity

Effects of Urban Sprawl: Traffic Because people are moving further and further away from their jobs, they have further distances to travel. This is a loss of productivity, and also puts a strain on public roads, and on the household budgets because of the cost of repairs to cars and the unstable price of gasoline.

Effects of Urban Sprawl: Cost of living Even though houses may be cheaper to buy they pay more for transportation and infrastructure. The people who commute to work everyday pay significantly more money in fuel costs and vehicle maintenance than someone who lives within the major city. Also there are higher utility costs because water and electricity must be transported longer distances. This effects tax dollars, and when taxes are raised no one benefits.

Pollution The pollution produced in a suburban area is up to 4 times more than that of an urban area. The reason behind this is because it takes longer to commute between places. More homes which makes utilities stress more. The picture is of downtown Detroit covered in smog. Smog is created through air pollution

Health Urban Sprawl effects our health because we are unable to exercise regularly because we are forced to commute in cars. When commuting in cars it is more convenient to grab fast food then going home and cooking. Fast food is unhealthy and may lead to more health problems.

Solutions to urban sprawl Sustainable Development is a plan for achieving is a road-map, an action plan, for achieving sustainability in any activity that uses resources and where immediate and intergenerational replication is demanded. As such, sustainable development is the organizing principle for sustaining finite resources necessary to provide for the needs of future generations of life on the planet. It is a process that envisions a desirable future state for human societies in which living conditions and resource-use continue to meet human needs without undermining the "integrity, stability and beauty" of natural biotic systems. [1]road-mapaction plansustainabilityorganizing principlebiotic systems [1]

Government Intervention