Paying For Sprawl

22 February 2001 - 8:00am

The American Planning Association launches a special section with facts and mini-essays on the impacts of sprawl.

"For half a century the United States has grown in a new way: Sprawl. In recent years corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies have studied the impact of sprawl. Every study shows that sprawl has strained public budgets, increased traffic congestion, threatened public health and the environment, over-consumed land, and damaged the social fabric of our nation. "Localities can’t keep up with demand for public services like roads; there are traffic jams, schools are overcrowded, and housing has become unaffordable."1 It does not have to be this way, there are smarter ways to develop."

Full Story: Points of View
Source: American Planning Association, October 6, 2005
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Much like Victorian reformers of the 1890s, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment for urban reform. Rather than standardization, sanitation, and social order, cities are now looking to promote "livability" and "sustainability".