Metro Areas Ranked By Sprawl

The Fannie Mae Foundation today introduced the term "fair growth" at a conference that, for the first time, took a comprehensive look at the relationship between sprawl, smart growth and social equity. The conference, hosted by the Fannie Mae Foundation and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, addressed a critical look at two aspects of smart growth and urban sprawl. Panel discussions covered ways in which sprawl -- and the smart growth legislation designed to curb it -- impact social equity issues such as housing affordability. Research to better define sprawl also was introduced and land-use experts, using new, more precise criteria, ranked 13 major metropolitan areas according to sprawl. The rankings of the major metropolitan areas based on housing sprawl, in order of most sprawling to least are: Atlanta, GA; Miami, FL;Detroit, MI; Denver, CO; Dallas, TX; Washington, D.C.; Houston, TX; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Philadelphia, PA; and New York, NY. The full report is available online.

Thanks to Dan Tasman