Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Urban Sprawl: Lessons from Urban Economics

By JAN K. BRUECKNER,

strong sentiment against the phenomenon known as “urban sprawl” has emerged in the United States over the past few years. Critics of sprawl argue that urban expansion encroaches excessively on agricultural land, leading to a loss of amenity benefits from open space as well as the depletion of scarce farmland resources. The critics also argue that the long commutes generated by urban expansion create excessive traffic congestion and air pollution. In addition, growth at the urban fringe is thought to depress the incentive for redevelopment of land closer to city centers, leading to decay of downtown areas. Finally, some commentators claim that, by spreading people out, lowdensity suburban development reduces social interaction, weakening the bonds that underpin a healthy society.
To make their case, sprawl critics point to a sharp imbalance between urban spatial expansion and underlying population growth in U.S. cities. For example, the critics note that the spatial size of the Chicago metropolitan area grew by 46 percent between 1970 and 1990, while the area’s population grew by only 4 percent. In the Cleveland metropolitan area, spatial growth of 33 percent occurred over this period even though population declined by 8 percent. Similar comparisons are possible for other cities.


more about urban sprawl:

Evaluation of Urban Sprawl Speed and Intensity Based on International Urbanization. Example from a Mexican City

Applying a CA-based model to explore land-use policy scenarios to contain sprawl in Thessaloniki, Greece

Urban Sprawl Pattern Recognition Using Remote Sensing and GIS – Case Study Shiraz City, Iran

URBAN SPRAWL IN MID-SIZED CITIES OF MENA, EVIDENCE FROM YAZD AND KASHAN IN CENTRAL IRAN

A scale-adjusted measure of ‘‘Urban sprawl’’ using nighttime satellite imagery

A new approach to the Iranian urban planning, using neo-traditional development

URBAN SPRAWL IN IRANIAN CITIES AND ITS DIFFERENCES WITH THE WESTERN SPRAWL