Amir Butt's List: Urbanization

• Urban sprawl is the unchecked spreading of a city or its suburbs. It often involves the construction of residential and commercial buildings in rural areas or otherwise undeveloped land at the outskirts of a city. Most residents of typical urban sprawl neighborhoods live in single-family homes and commute by car to their jobs in the city. Concerns over urban sprawl and its consequences have been raised and largely focus on negative consequences for residents and the local environment. On the other hand, some argue that "urban sprawl" illustrates positive growth of a local economy.
• The term urban sprawl is generally used with negative connotations. Because people in sprawling neighborhoods tend to drive more than those who don’t, urban sprawl is sometimes associated with increased air pollution. It has also been linked to obesity since walking or bicycling usually are not viable commuting options for those commuting from the outskirts of a city into town.

• Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density, auto-dependent development on rural land, with associated design features that encourage car dependency.^[1] As a result, some critics argue that sprawl has certain disadvantages, including:

   
   
  • Long transport distances to work
   
  • High car dependence
   
  • Inadequate facilities e.g.: health, cultural. etc.
   
  • Higher per-person infrastructure costs.
   
   

  Discussions and debates about sprawl are often obfuscated by the ambiguity associated with the phrase. For example, some commentators measure sprawl only with the average number of residential units per acre in a given area. But others associate it with decentralization (spread of population without a well-defined center), discontinuity (leapfrog development, as defined below), segregation of uses, etc. (See Wrestling Sprawl to the Ground; Defining and Measuring an Elusive Concept for a detailed analysis of these definitions).

• We now spend more time than ever in stressful traffic, and nearly 30% our income on car payments, gas, maintenance, and insurance. A great majority of our tax dollars go towards the endless building of roads and highways, with little left for valuable things like education, civic buildings, quality architecture and public spaces, or the building of new modern train systems. Our futile attempt to make the car happy is draining our national economy as well as our own personal savings.

• Editor

   

  XYZ Local Paper              

   

  Town, Oregon

   

  Dear Editor:

   

  I am writing to share my thoughts with you regarding growth in our town and the importance of requiring new development to disclose its true costs to the community.

   

  In order for cities to accurately forecast, and in order for residents of communities to have a full understanding of the impacts of proposed development projects in their community, it is imperative that such communities have detailed studies for all major development proposals.

   

  Such studies should include information on traffic impact, financial impact, environmental impact, population and housing impact, schools impact, public facilities and utilities impact and a cost-benefit analysis. In addition, these studies, or analyses, should include a compilation of the cumulative impacts of the proposed project along with all other recently completed, current and proposed major projects.

   

  Cities and towns throughout Oregon, including ours, are experiencing significant problems with traffic congestion, overcrowded schools and declining amounts of local open space and natural areas due to increasing development. This idea would provide invaluable assistance to city governments and residents in determining future community requirements and how to meet those requirements. 

   

  A recent report prepared for the League of Oregon Cities clearly documents that increased population and development have placed greater demands on cities to provide service to existing residents and new infrastructure to accommodate growth. Cities throughout the state are experiencing deterioration of their financial health as a direct result and are becoming increasingly unable to provide current levels of service.

   

  A study of the true costs of a new development would allow communities to become proactive in making decisions regarding growth. Rather than speculating, or worse yet, not even thinking about the impacts of a proposed development project, these studies would provide the details needed for a community to make informed decisions regarding proposed developments based upon solid data.

   

  Sincerely,

   

   

   

  -Type your name and address here-

• Editor

   

  XYZ Local Paper              

   

  Town, Oregon

   

  Dear Editor:

   

  I am writing to share my thoughts with you regarding growth in our town and the importance of requiring new development to disclose its true costs to the community.

   

  In order for cities to accurately forecast, and in order for residents of communities to have a full understanding of the impacts of proposed development projects in their community, it is imperative that such communities have detailed studies for all major development proposals.

   

  Such studies should include information on traffic impact, financial impact, environmental impact, population and housing impact, schools impact, public facilities and utilities impact and a cost-benefit analysis. In addition, these studies, or analyses, should include a compilation of the cumulative impacts of the proposed project along with all other recently completed, current and proposed major projects.

   

  Cities and towns throughout Oregon, including ours, are experiencing significant problems with traffic congestion, overcrowded schools and declining amounts of local open space and natural areas due to increasing development. This idea would provide invaluable assistance to city governments and residents in determining future community requirements and how to meet those requirements. 

   

  A recent report prepared for the League of Oregon Cities clearly documents that increased population and development have placed greater demands on cities to provide service to existing residents and new infrastructure to accommodate growth. Cities throughout the state are experiencing deterioration of their financial health as a direct result and are becoming increasingly unable to provide current levels of service.

   

  A study of the true costs of a new development would allow communities to become proactive in making decisions regarding growth. Rather than speculating, or worse yet, not even thinking about the impacts of a proposed development project, these studies would provide the details needed for a community to make informed decisions regarding proposed developments based upon solid data.

   

  Sincerely,

   

   

   

  -Type your name and address here-

• Our elected officials need to hear your concerns about growth!  Click on the following issues for more information and to view sample  letters. See  instructions below for sending an email or downloading a letter.

• Causes 
  • Cheaper land and housing costs in the suburbs as compared to urban centers has lured many to settle in these areas.
   
  • There has been an increase in public spending for the development of infrastructure like roads, water and electricity in the suburbs than in existing urban centers, thus adding benefits to life in sprawls.
   
  • There has been an increase in commercial lending practices that favor suburban development.
  • Increase in family income of an average American has raised his living standard. Owning a car and paying for gas to transit from suburb to the city is affordable for many Americans.
   
  • Sprawls are characterized by low density populations and less traffic congestion. Therefore, even in the absence of any federal policies that would encourage growth of sprawls, these centers have proliferated due to the willingness of a growing number of people to live in sprawls, where they find life more calm and peaceful than in the cities.
   
  • Higher property and business taxes in the cities have pushed businesses to the suburbs where taxes are generally low.
   
  Effects

• About Urban Sprawl

     
  •   Urban sprawl occurs when cities grow, in terms of both population and land area, very rapidly. This phenomenon is common in the western United States with cities such as Dallas, Phoenix and Los Angeles. Although urban sprawl can have positive effects, including making quality homes more affordable to residents, it is most often considered to affect a community negatively. Among common arguments against urban sprawl are that it creates disjointed communities rather than a unified one, raises the costs of building and maintaining infrastructure, and results in longer commutes (which increases traffic congestion and pollution). City development experts cite several causes for this trend in burgeoning cities. 
     

  Crumbling Inner Cities

     
  •   With higher crime rates, higher property prices and aging buildings and infrastructure, urban centers can be unattractive to residents, especially when there are no clear signs of urban renewal. In addition to featuring affordable, recently built housing, low-density suburbs lure residents away from the inner city with quieter streets, newer schools and lower crime rates. 

• Top Ten Urban Design Books

•  It's not the beer cans I mind, it's the roads. - Edward Abbey
• A street is a spatial entity and not the residue between buildings. - Anonymous
•  In a quality city, a person should be able to live their entire life without a car, and not feel deprived. - Paul Bedford
• A good sustainability and quality of life indicator: The average amount of time spent in a car. - Paul Bedford
• Urbanization has defused the population bomb.  -- Stewart Brand
• Cars are happiest when there are no other cars around. People are happiest when there are other people around. - Dan Burden
• Planning of the automobile city focuses on saving time. Planning for the accessible city, on the other hand, focuses on time well spent. - Robert Cervero
•  Bicyclists should expect and demand safe accommodation on every public road, just as do all other users. Nothing more is expected. Nothing less is acceptable. - Chainguard.com
• Placing surface parking lots in your downtowns is like placing a toilet in your living room
•  We don't want slow growth. We want slow land consumption.

8 more annotations...

• Urbanization is also defined by the United Nations as movement of people from rural to urban areas with population growth equating to urban migration.
• As more and more people leave villages and farms to live in cities, urban growth results. The rapid growth of cities like Chicago in the late 19th century and Shanghai a century later can be attributed largely to rural-urban migration. This kind of growth is especially commonplace in developing countries.