I. WHAT IS URBAN SPRAWL?
A. American Heritage Dictionary- "haphazard growth or extension outward, especially that resulting from real estate development on the outskirts of a city"

B. Sierra Club National- "low-density, car-dependent development beyond the edges of existing service and employment areas"

C. Best- "low density, haphazard, car-dependent urban development at or beyond the edges of existing urban service areas"

D. At Issue- the way cities grow

smart (forethought) or dumb (anything goes)? Land Use-what gets built, where, & how much a) build new facilities or renovate old ones? b) spread out or channel growth inward? c) develop all available land or preserve some farms and natural areas? d) allow unrestricted growth, limit or steer growth in some ways, or discouorage growth? Transportation Systems-how access to desired goods, services, & activities is accomplished a) individual cars b) mass transit c) walking, bicycling d) telecommuting e) delivery services


E. Identifying Sprawl (both past & current)- it's not just sheer size; not all urban development is sprawl
1. growth rates of population vs. developed land, 1970-1990 (see figure 1)
   a) New York City: population +8%; land use +65%
   b) Chicago: population +4%; land use +33%
   c) Cleveland: population -11%; land use +33%
   d) Seattle: population +38%; land use +87%
   e) Los Angeles: population +45%; land use +300%
2. housing types
   are most homes stand-alone, or are apartments widely available too? how big are most suburban lots? are any apartments in high-rise buildings?
3. mixed vs. single use neighborhoods
   are housing, public, & commercial areas integrated together, or are they separated by distances that require substantial travel for work, school, shopping, & entertainment?
4. asphalt area vs. building area & population
   a) typically in US cities, 50% of urban land is devoted to cars (roads, parking, gas stations)
   b) nationwide, more land is devoted to cars than to housing
5. suitability for development
   a) wetlands
   b) floodplains
6. level of car-dependency
   are practical alternatives available?

F. Examples of Sprawl- Los Angeles/San Diego, Atlanta, OKC, most of Norman and Tulsa


II. WHY IS SPRAWL A PROBLEM?
A. Environmental Consequences
1. Land Use-unnecessary alteration of rural land
   a) farmland
   1. outward growth of cities consumes 2700 acres of farmland per day, 1100 acres of that (40%) being prime farmland
   2. this reduces local agriculture production, simplifying the local economy and increasing dependence on importing food from afar
   
   b) wildlife habitat- forests, prairies, wetlands
   1. rapid degradation continues in 3 forms
      a) destruction -virtually all wildlife disappears
      b) fragmentation -remaining parcels of land too small or too separated to support original species
      c) simplification/generalization - number of species plummets, even if total amount of wildlife stays high; only "weedy" or "trash" species remain (pigeons, squirrels, raccoons, lawn grass) because human activities "subsidize" them
   2. threats to endangered species
   3. sometimes causes wildlife to move to town
   c) erosion and topsoil runoff -cleared land is more vulnerable; good topsoil is hard to replace
2. Transportation-car-dependency increases pollution
   a) Air
   1. although car exhaust is cleaner than ever before, more people are driving farther and more often; this is partly by choice, but partly by necessity
   2. in cities, cars and trucks cause 30-50% of all air pollution, mostly because of traffic congestion (idling vehicles) and cold starts
   3. violations of federal EPA air quality standards will result in penalties
   b) Water
   1. motor vehicles leak oil, anti-freeze, & other toxics onto pavement; rain then washes the chemicals into rivers & streams; such "runoff" is a leading form of water pollution in the late 1990s
   2. chemical substitutes for poor soils can contaminate groundwater

B. Impacts to Individuals & Communities
1. Gridlock Wastes Time
2. Public Health-illness caused by dirty air, water, and soil, especially in children, the elderly, and persons with high sensitivity
3. Loss of Social and Economic Diversity
   a) bedroom communities
   b) "cookie-cutter" neighborhoods
   c) lack of affordable housing
4. Urban Decay
   a) Flight to the Suburbs -people desert the central cities
   b) Brownfields -abandoned or underused industrial or commercial facilities
   c) Social Fabric -more isolation, reduced sense of community
5. Accidents, Injuries, and Fatalities
   a) each year in the U.S., 15 million motor vehicle accidents kill 40,000 persons and injure 5 million others, at least 300,000 of them severely, costing us over $350 billion
   b) such accidents are the 3rd leading cause of death in the U.S., after tobacco use & alcohol
   c) reducing car-dependence would lower the body count

C. Distorted & Unfair Transportation Policies
1. Lack of Balanced Transportation Service-car dependency limits consumer choice & fails to serve infrequent drivers & non-drivers (the elderly, the disabled, the poor, and students)
2. Is building more roads always the best solution to traffic congestion?
   a) a recent UC Berkeley study found that every 1% increase in new lane miles generates a 0.9% increase in traffic within 5 years
   b) it's like loosening your belt if your pants get too tight: it ignores the underlying issue, probably getting you right back where you started
   c) The Result -more roads encourages more traffic, encouraging even more roads, encouraging even more traffic, etc.; when do we break the cycle?
3. Artificially Cheap Driving
   a) Costs Not Paid Directly by Drivers At All
   1. 30% of the direct cash costs of building and maintaining the nation's road system (only 70% is paid by gas taxes, tolls, etc.)
   2. access to most parking
   3. air pollution, & consequent health problems
   4. during rush hour -delays & increased accident risk imposed on other drivers
   5. the need for strategic involvement in oil-producing regions of the world
   b) Costs Not Paid in Proportion to the Amount Driven
   1. insurance should be mileage-based
      "Imagine that you have an identical twin who: 1) drives a car just like yours, 2) drives exactly the same way you drive, and 3) gets exactly the same insurance coverage you do, from the same company. Under the current system you would both have identical car insurance premiums.
      
      Now imagine that you drive 1,000 miles per year, but your twin drives 10,000 miles per year. Your twin's risk of being in an accident is 10 times higher than yours, so he should be paying 10 times more for his insurance. Since he doesn't, you're unfairly subsidizing his driving habits, and you don't receive the savings you deserve from driving less.
      
      The experts at the Victoria Transport Policy Institute say that under a pricing plan that's 'optimal' for society, an average car would pay a distance-based insurance charge of about 8˘ per mile. This is one of several new charges they propose, totalling 32˘ per mile, but other current charges, like fuel taxes and flat registration fees, would be reduced or eliminated."
      
      
   2. road mainenance charges should be weight- & distance-based
      "Imagine that you and your sister each travel separately along a typical stretch of urban Interstate Highway, say from Edmond, OK to Norman, OK. You're riding your 500 lb. motorcycle, and your sister is driving her 50,000 lb. freight truck.
      
      Since access to the road is free, the only road-related costs both of you must pay for the trip are the fuel taxes that fund road construction and maintenance. Although you both pay annual vehicle registration fees, they're not assessed based on how much you drive.
      
      Heavy vehicles generally achieve poorer fuel economy than light vehicles (maybe 50 mpg for the cycle vs. 5 mpg for the diesel truck), and therefore pay more in fuel taxes. However, the difference in vehicle weight far exceeds the difference in miles per gallon (factor of 100 difference vs. factor of 10). Since heavier vehicles cause more road damage, you're unfairly subsidizing your sister's driving.
      
      The experts at the Victoria Transport Policy Institute say that under a pricing plan that's 'optimal' for society, an average car would pay a weight-distance charge of about 11˘ per mile. This is one of several new charges they propose, totalling 32˘ per mile, but other current charges, like fuel taxes and flat registration fees, would be reduced or eliminated."
   
   c) Unpaid and Underpaid Costs Add Up
   1. nationwide, subsidies to driving total about $450 billion annually
      a) $2,400 per vehicle, or
      b) $1,650 per person, or
      c) $0.22 per mile, or
      d) $4 per gallon
   2. one expert says only 45% of the full costs to society of driving factor into individual drivers' decisions (see Figure 2)
   3. these costs aren't eliminated, merely obscured -they show up in hidden ways as higher local taxes, higher prices for goods, and increased human injury or illness
   d) Consequences of Underpricing
   1. the cheaper it is, the more it gets used
      a) parking lots and garages
      b) major highways
      c) number of trips
      d) vehicle fuel
      e) do owe plan the size of a concert hall based on free Rolling Stones tickets?
   2. nationwide, average annual miles traveled per capita increased from 4,000 in 1960 to 9,2000 in 1995; how much of that is beacuse the distorting underpricing?
   e) What's the big deal? Everyone likes to drive!
   1. some is necessary but more isn't always better (analogy: food)
   2. just because you like it and it feels good, doesn't mean it's good for other people or the community (analogies -theft, vandalism, violence)
   3. citizens deserve more choices, and non-drivers deserve access
   4. people should pay for things according to the amount they use
      infrequent drivers & non-drivers financially subsidize frequent drivers
      infrequent drivers don't capture the full potential savings they deserve by driving less
   5. critics of subsidizing mass transit don't acknowledge these distortions

D. Subsidies to New Development
1. Urban growth is usually encouraged, regardless of negative consequences, beacuse of a desire to increase the local tax base and collect more fees
   a) Property Taxes -revenues from new development often fail to pay for the expansion of public services needed to serve it (schools, libraries, police & fire protection, and county roads)
   b) Impact Fees -charged to developers, & thus eventually paid partly by buyers, these usually fail to cover all the costs of extending utility infrastructure to new subdivisions (water, sewer, storm sewer, trash pickup)
   c) Utility Usage Fees -charged to users (homeowners, businesses), rates often don't increase for high users; this is unfair because they place a larger burden on the supply system than smaller users (i.e., lawn-watering for huge yards, runoff from huge parking lots)
2. Studies show that new urban growth often doesn't pay it's own way
   a) in the Midwest, the average home costs $1.20 to service for every $1 paid in taxes, compared to $0.43 for farms, parks, and open spaces
   b) in Ohio the numbers are more dramatic: $1.41 of costs per tax dollar for homes, vs. $0.34 for open space
   c) cities and older suburbs bear the burden: existing schools and libraries are often closed as new ones are being built
E. Property Loss
1. Increased Flooding
   a) wetlands act as huge natural sponges, storing 1 million or more gallons of water per acre
   b) sprawl often destroys wetlands, making downstream floods worse
2. Floodplain Development
   a) makes little economic sense, but usually allowed if owner has flood insurance
   b) rebuilding is often encouraged after big floods wipe everything out
3. Road Widening-often requires destroying or moving existing homes, or at least taking part of their yards

III. WHAT CAUSES SPRAWL?

A. Historical Background
1. Growth Patterns of U.S. Cities
   a) in 1800, only 5% of Americans lived in cities; now 74% live in metropolitan areas (towns with at least 50,000 people)
   b) among urban dwellers, 41% live in central cities and 59% live in suburbs; in recent decades, suburb populations have grown 10 times faster than central-city populations
   c) Conclusion -if our population keeps urbanizing, our cities will need to grow. However, the growth doesn't need to be sprawl.
2. Linkages between Transportation Systems & Urban Development
   a) historically, cities appeared on coastlines, rivers, & then railroads
   b) big highways tend to encourage development along their corridors (the pro-highway lobby and politicians sometime use this argument to justify building more roads)
   c) once a city becomes car-dependent, it's hard to break the pattern -building alternatives requires destroying existing property & facilities

B. Home-Buyers' and Developers' Choices
1. Popular Imagery
   a) some people consider sprawl the "American Dream"
   b) some people ssubscribe to the "frontier mentality," believing that we're destined to continue crossing new frontiers and conquering new lands
2. Conspicuous Consumption/Affluenza
   a) the "bigger is always better" attitude
   b) keeping up with the Joneses
3. developers are profit-driven
   a) they decide what to build, & their marketing efforts influence buyers' choices
   b) outcomes of their decisions aren't necessarily best for the whole community
   c) effective lobbying of local public officials keeps regulations minimal and profit margins fat, sometimes at the general public's expense

C. Distorted & Unfair Transportation Policies (see part II)

D. Subsidies to New Development (see part II)

E. Other Government Policies
1. State & Federal
   a) funding of highway construction and mainteneance
   1. only 70% directly funded by drivers
   2. some states, including Oklahoma, receive back less than they pay in to the "slush fund"
   b) outdated policies encourage development and farming in floodpains and wetlands
   c) mortgage interest deduction from income taxes
   d) home "trade-up" provisions for avoiding capital gains
2. Local
   a) Unquestioned, pro-growth dogma leads to unjustified growth encouragement
   1. "Growth is Inevitable"
   2. "All Growth is Always Good"
   3. "Growth has no Important Negative Consequences"
   b) Minimal Regulation of Development
   1. results in a haphazard, free-for all pattern of land use
   2. Consider the following excerpts from recent real estate industry annual reports:
      a) "Many metro areas have evolved as suburban expanses with no real center of gravity. Growth is diffused."
      b) "New commercial centers sprout up randomly, surrounded by jerrybuilt communities...that often supplant the original central business district."
      c) "Suburbs struggle because they have let developers run amok."
   c) Zoning
   1. usually car-oriented
   2. single-use areas favored over mixed-use areas
   3. mandatory large lot sizes, large setbacks, or parking facilities
   4. lack of urban greenspace

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