Urban Sprawl

My friend Katie shared this video w. me today. Its a little old school, but urban sprawl is still a problem...in fact a growing problem. I've heard of this notion of urban sprawl before, but I've never really been educated about it. Some of what the video taught is relevant to poverty and homelessness in the urban environment. I'm really interested to know more about urban sprawl's role in the homelessness crisis in urban environments.

So many disturbing things were revealed through this video. For example, its cheaper for developers to destroy countryside farms and build on them than it is to restore current buildings on prime real estate in the urban environment. The developer that was interviewed in the video said that they are just building the houses that the market is demanding. Well I just say...stop demanding these cookie cutter, ugly, destructive houses. There were a few suburban home owners that were interviewed as well. They were asked what they don't like about the neighborhoods they live in. Most of the critiques were that the people did not experience "diversity" in the type of people who live in the area. The people who lived there were not multi generational and everyone was/is white. Also, they explained that there weren't sidewalks or even street lights. There wasn't a single store that anyone could walk to. I find it strange that cities and urban environments were developed out of the desire to fulfill exactly these needs.

With so many people who have the financial status to move out of the city moving...what happens to the urban environment? Well it just concentrates poverty into one area making it more extreme. Buildings are left unattended and abandoned. Businesses move farther and farther out of town to the disgusting strip malls built on farmland leaving little to do or buy in the towns.

The environmental effects of choosing suburban life and therefore urban sprawl are overwhelming. In order to go anywhere or do anything the residents have to drive. Not to mention all of the additional pollution that happens to the air and land because of the spread of houses into perfectly healthy farmland.

Since Disney owns a ton of land they wanted to create an ideal town. They wanted to have schools, jobs, services, parks, entertainment, and houses all within walking distance of one another. They talked about creating a "real sense of community." There were sidewalks and street lights and less cars and traffic. The video commented that the ideal towns of tomorrow look exactly like the traditional towns of previous generations.

So how did we get so far from these traditional towns that just work well? Well, a lot of the problem lies in the zoning laws that have been passed that basically encourage urban sprawl. This is probably what I understand least about this issue, but I also think that much of the answer lies in changing these laws. The video proposed three (albeit very difficult) things that have to change in order to prevent even more urban sprawl:

:: Laws that govern zoning need changed. There are all kinds of limits on buildings in cities that just make it so much cheaper to build outside the city limits. Developers are in the business to build homes and make money, not to fight legislation. So, things are just going to continue as they are until someone makes it their priority to change the way this business of housing is done.

:: Traditional communities need to be demanded in order for them to be built. They also must be planned well. Much of the good planning that is happening in this country in cities like Portland and Charlotte, NC is modeled after the garden towns of England. It is curious to me that people moving into the suburbs are often looking for beautiful landscapes and quiet streets, and yet by moving into the beautiful farmland they are destroying exactly what they are seeking.

:: Encourage reinvestment in existing cities and towns. This one seems obvious to me. That kind of says it all.


"We've turned beautiful landscapes into strip mall junk-scapes." gross.