Study Shows Urban Sprawl Continues To Gobble Up Land

via Science Daily

A study of changing land use patterns in the state of Maryland found substantial and significant increases in sprawl between 1973 and 2000.

The results are in contrast to a well-publicized study last year that concluded that the extent of sprawl remained roughly unchanged in the United States between 1976 and 1992.

“We found that the areas where sprawl increased the most were in the exurban areas – out beyond even the suburbs,” said Elena Irwin, co-author of the study and associate professor of environmental economics at Ohio State University.

The study looked for evidence of fragmented land use – areas where housing was juxtaposed with agriculture or forested areas, for example. That's one of the basic hallmarks of sprawl.

Results showed the level of peak land-use fragmentation was 60 percent greater in 2000 as it was in 1973, and shifted outward from the central cities to a distance of 55 miles in 2000, up from about 40 miles in 1973.

Fragmented land use increased the most in non-urban areas located about 80 miles from the nearest city, the researchers found. 

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Suburban sprawl, by millicent_bystander

more about urban sprawl:

From Suburb to City: An Opportunity Born of Necessity

The nature and causes of urban sprawl: a case study of Wirral, England

Causes of Urban Sprawl (Decentralization) in the United States: Natural Evolution, Flight from Blight, and the Fiscalization of Land Use