Sprawl

Sprawl

How COVID-19 and Skyrocketing Housing Costs Accelerated Sprawl

In search of space and affordability, American families are increasingly moving to suburbs and exurbs.

January 9, 2022 - Bloomberg CityLab

Cars in the snow

Snowstorm That Stranded Thousands Prompts Questions About Auto-Centric Development

After thousands of motorists spent over a day on a snowbound Virginia highway, experts are warning that auto-centric sprawl will worsen the impacts of extreme weather events.

January 6, 2022 - Streetsblog USA

An aerial view of Mississauga, Ontario, with Lake Ontario in the background.

Nowhere to Build but Up

An old way of doing municipal business—generating development fees by opening farmland to development—is no longer paying dividends. Mississauga, Ontario serves as a cautionary tale for the bottom line of sprawl.

January 6, 2022 - The Globe and Mail

Los Angeles Traffic - The Newhall Pass

Cities and Automobile Dependence: What Have We Learned?

Thirty years ago Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy introduced the concept of automobile dependency. In this article they reexamine the evidence, consider criticisms, and discuss how their insights changed—sometimes painfully—planning practices.

December 28, 2021 - Gasoline Consumption and Cities Revisited: What Have We Learnt?

Virginia

Opinion: Richmond, Virginia Needs a Land Value Tax

Switching from property tax to a land value tax could rein in sprawl, boost urban density, and lower the cost of housing.

December 27, 2021 - Virginia Public Media

Transit Oriented Development

What Is Smart Growth?

Smart growth describes an approach to planning and development that prioritizes compact built environments, designed for benefits to the economy and the environment.

December 3, 2021 - James Brasuell

A street sign announcing the city of Vaughan.

Council Votes to Allow Development on the York Region's Greenbelt

The York Regional Council took a significant step toward allowing development on a large chunk of the area's greenbelt—a move opponents say will set a dangerous precedent.

November 7, 2021 - The Narwhal

Downtown Skyline

What Is Infill Development?

Billed as an alternative to urban sprawl, infill development encourages the development of underused or vacant land in existing urban areas to increase density and place new development near existing resources and infrastructure.

November 5, 2021 - Diana Ionescu

A map depicting the location of Chamblee, Georgia as well as surrounding cities and roads.

700 Homes Added to a Quickly Growing Corner of the Atlanta Metro Area

The Chamblee City Council has approved a massive new development project that will add more than 700 homes and tens of thousands of square feet of retail to the quickly growing city.

October 21, 2021 - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Ventura County

What Is an Urban Growth Boundary?

Some cities and regions limit the growth of sprawl by setting an urban growth boundary—a strict geographic limit on where real estate development can occur.

October 13, 2021 - James Brasuell

A satellite image of the location of Murio Farms in Boise, Idaho.

380-Acre Development Planned in Southwest Boise

One of the fastest-growing cities in the country could be making space for even more growth.

October 10, 2021 - Boise Dev

Self-Driving Cars

How Cities Can Plan For the Rise of Autonomous Vehicles

When cars first started proliferating on American roads, it led to increased sprawl and flight from central cities. What can we do now to prevent the same problem as AVs become more widespread?

October 6, 2021 - Streetsblog USA

Suburban development in Long Island, NY

What Is a Suburb?

Another term lacking a consensus definition in the field of planning, "suburb" is usually deployed to describe residential communities outside central urban areas.

September 23, 2021 - James Brasuell

Greenfield Multi-Family

What Is Greenfield Development?

Greenfield land has remained untouched by previous development. Some definitions of greenfield land also include agricultural land. Thus, greenfield development encroaches on the natural environment to expand the built environment.

September 16, 2021 - James Brasuell

A map showing a heat map that represents commute times in an urban area.

Getting to Work: New Commute Duration Heatmaps

The Mineta Transportation Institute's new interactive website produces heatmaps that illustrate commute duration—the number of minutes that workers spend traveling to their jobs—plus related information, for most U.S. communities.

September 16, 2021 - Mineta Transportation Institute

Downtown Los Angeles

Census Data Reveal Increasing Density in the U.S.—Reversing a Two-Decade Trend

The New York Times is calling 2010 to 2020 the "Downtown Decade."

September 2, 2021 - The New York Times

Washington D.C. Row Houses

Report: D.C. Housing Too Decentralized

Over the last three decades, the D.C. region has seen the most development in far-flung exurbs disconnected from area jobs and transit networks.

September 2, 2021 - Brookings Institution

Houston Metro

Can Houston Rein In Its Famous Sprawl?

The city's unabated growth has made it a bustling hub of industry and commerce, but can it sustain its unmitigated outward sprawl?

August 31, 2021 - Houston Chronicle

Suburban Neighborhood

Pew: More Americans Prefer Big Homes, Longer Distances to Retail and Amenities

The pandemic has resulted in an an increasing preference for sprawl among Americans, according to the findings of a recent Pew Research Center "American Trends Panel."

August 29, 2021 - Pew Research Center

A aerial view of Ladera Ranch, California, showing a variety of buildings and open space.

What Are Master Planned Communities?

Now frequently associated with retirees and sprawling developments in the U.S. Sun Belt, master planned communities, also known as new towns or planned communities, were invented as an escape from the haphazard growth of urban areas in the mid-20th century.

August 24, 2021 - James Brasuell

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.