Can American-Type Sprawl Happen In The U.K.?

"What hits one first about exurbia is its ugliness. Laid out by competing developers, disparate 'cookie-cutter' housing developments (often christened with faux Wild West prefixes such as Vale, Ranch or Stable) wander into the distance, devoid of any master-plan. Self-contained behind electronic gates, each house seamlessly resembles the others in a conveyor belt of McMansions. Behind the walls, uniformity is enforced by a strict system of covenants, conditions and restrictions that outlaw individual alterations to homes and gardens.

...Over 90 per cent of office space built in America during the Nineties was thrown up along the edgeless cities that cling to interstate highways. Thanks to IT, many of these 'technoburbs' are capable of operating entirely independently of the central business district. Detached socially, physically and economically from the city, they resemble amoeba-like commercial agglomerations rather than any recognisable urban form.

...But, my time in Phoenix has shown the United States pursuing a model we desperately need to avoid: depopulating downtowns, ravaged countryside, unsustainable energy consumption, social and racial segmentation and a sprawling exurbia that is retreating unrelentingly into the future."