Cost of Sprawl

Phoenix Freeway Interchange

The Economic Defense of Sprawl (And What's Wrong With It)

Defenders of suburban expansion argue that government should build more roads in order to open up more land for housing. What's wrong with that argument?

April 14, 2019 - Michael Lewyn

Fort McMurray Fire

What Goes Together? Sprawl and Destructive Wildfires

Wildfires tend to start at the Wildland-Urban Interface: those border zones between cities and the open land surrounding them. Keeping the lid on sprawl, it can be argued, would tame the inferno.

August 3, 2017 - Wired

Memphis Wants To Shrink

After decades of sprawl, Memphis begins to reconsider its growth pattern and chart a new course towards fiscal sustainability.

February 13, 2017 - Modern Cities

San Francisco Sprawl

The Real Reasons Affordable Housing Isn't Being Built in California

The policy tools used to address our nation's housing shortfall often seem to worsen the problem. But this is because they ignore the underlying infrastructure and financing to support growth.

July 7, 2016 - Shelterforce/Rooflines

Suburbia

American Suburbia Transplanted to Beijing

Chinese and Indian cities have been quick to welcome housing developments modeled on North American suburbs, including "Orange County" and "Vancouver Forest" in Beijing. This globalized sprawl perpetuates all the ills of our own.

June 30, 2015 - The City Fix

The Suburban Story; Continued

Any narrative of the contemporary American residential market that neglects the continued proliferation of sprawl fails to describe the complex preferences of the public.

August 3, 2014 - Huffington Post Green

Happy

How Urban Design Begets Happiness

A new book by Charles Montgomery makes the case that many of the best possible outcomes for the built environment require human interaction—whether commuting to work or walking around residential neighborhoods.

March 24, 2014 - The Globe and Mail

This image displays six different types of parking typologies

How Parking Rules Raise Rents

Alan Durning details the negative effects that parking requirements have on housing affordability.

September 4, 2013 - Sightline Institute

New Tool for Tallying the Costs of Sprawl

The State of New Hampshire has created an interactive online tool for its municipalities to examine the impacts of different land use scenarios, in the hopes of promoting smart growth. Geneva Faulkner describes how it works.

September 6, 2012 - Engaging Cities

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.