Imagine a built environment that starts from a central location of Scottsdale, Arizona, sprawling outwards until it covers 70 percent of all land on Earth.
"Forecasting the continued rapid growth of the metropolitan area in the coming decades, a study published Thursday by researchers at Syracuse University has found that the majority of Earth’s landmass will be Phoenix suburbs by 2050."
The scale of such a prediction could only be the work of satire, which is the bread and butter of the website The Onion.
Yes, this is not a real news story, and there is no such study.
The study's fake authors, however, do seem well aware of the realities of transportation in such an inefficient land use scenario:
The researchers warned, however, that a lack of adequate transportation infrastructure in the Phoenix metro area could create problems for workers driving in from the suburbs, estimating that traffic congestion during rush hour could add as much as 1,200 to 1,400 hours to their daily commutes.
Read the full story: New Study Finds Most Of Earth’s Landmass Will Be Phoenix Suburb By 2050
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