Signs and Problems of Urban Sprawl in the United States
Over the course of the past thirty years, the United States has seen a marked reduction in the population density in urban centers. At the same time, the population of the country has increased by approximately 2.1 million people per year. Jobs have not left the urban centers, nor has any major movement signaling a return to our long-dead agrarian past. What is happening is “urban sprawl”. More and more sub-urban communities are sprouting up, many simply as bedrooms for the workforce that still has jobs in the cities but no longer needs or wants to work there (Brophy and Vey, n pag). Urban sprawl is made possible by increasingly better and more prevalent modes of transportation and the increase in decentralized services to those communities. While the benefit of such sprawl has been primarily to those living in the suburban communities in the form of increased space, quiet surroundings, and increased choices in living style, the detriment to the environment and to our resources has been significant.
