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Alps Endangered as Swiss Sprawl Spreads

Posted by: Nate Berg

13 October 2008 - 9:00am

Over the last 70 years, sprawl has rapidly taken over much of Switzerland, not just in suburban areas around cities, but also in the country's famous Alps.

"Geographers also found that the modern level of sprawl – inefficient, low-density development – in places like the Rhone Valley was proportionately identical to levels around Zurich."

"'There really is no difference,' Christian Schwick, a geographer and co-author of the study, told swissinfo. 'We in Switzerland think of the Alps as being untouched landscape, but we have seen this is not true.'"

"By comparing maps from 1935, 1960, 1980 and 2002, researchers were able to assign a coefficient to sprawl, with lower numbers signifying denser, more efficient communities."

"In 1935 sprawl had a factor of 1.2. By 2002 it had leapt to nearly 2.6."

Full Story: Swiss countryside succumbs to urban sprawl
Source: SwissInfo, October 10, 2008
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So, in this context, what if the post-war suburban growth had not happened the way it did? What if the returning GIs had married, yes, but had continued to live in densely populated cities?
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