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What Is This Thing Called Sprawl?

Posted by: Nate Berg

20 September 2006 - 6:00am

The concept of sprawl and its attributes are broken down in simple terms in this Q&A with Indiana University Professor John Ottensmann.

This "Question and Answer" interview acts as a basic primer on suburban sprawl. For the uncertain layperson, this brief discussion puts some meaning to the oft-used buzzword.

"Question: What is sprawl?

Answer: As a starting point, most people would say very low-density development, scattered or leap frog development, strip commercial development, those kind of things.

Nobody really has very good ways of measuring sprawl. The map you've got is very informative in that it shows where the greatest amount of new suburban development is occurring in various parts of the state.

Most of the new suburban development, not all, is the type of development that people would characterize as sprawl, that is, low density."

Full Story: Just what is sprawl, and why is it really a concern?
Source: Journal and Courier, September 17, 2006
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It has been estimated that half of all Americans, and two-thirds of urban Americans, live in suburbia. Here are the key questions: Does suburbia exist because it is the natural "culmination of urban development"?
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