Urban sprawl patterns and environmental impacts

Urban Sprawl is a problem that can have severe consequences for all life if the continuing expansion of developed landscape is left unrestricted. The unrestricted development of the United States and the world is rapidly contributing to the degradation of our ecosystem. Moreover, if over development continues there will be massive human suffering. Air and water quality are in jeopardy and topsoil is being lost at an alarming rate. If something isn't done soon to curtail rampant development there may be no way to prevent its destructive consequences. In order to understand Urban Sprawl it is imperative to understand the history and origin of cities.

As the nation shifted from agricultural society to a manufacturing, and then a technology driven social culture, workers incresingly left the rural life and homestead to find work and social support in the manufacturing centers. This development was based on the marketplace and was designed to maximize company profits rather than maximize the health and welfare of its inhabitants. The capitalist city had lower regard for ecological issues than for building a business structure which supported those who were dependant on the business. AS the manufacturing power grew, so did the factories to provide the goods, and the housing to support the workers. The result is a sprawling city that overflows its boundaries like a bottle of coke which is poured too quickly into a cold glass. The result is declining social and ecological conditions which contribute to the detriment of human and ecological health.

At no time was this more evident than The Industrial Revolution. Europeans and then Americans found it profitable to harness rivers for power. They built gristmills first, and then saw mills, then textile mills. Eventually, entrepreneurs would produce anything that they could create a market for. Along the way they exploited what ever was available. Men, women children and immigrants competed for the lowest wages. Rivers were harnessed for their ability to turn the wheels. They were also utilized as a means to carry away industrial refuse. Eventually, Coal and other fossil fuels would be extracted to power steam engines. Raw materials were also extracted. Metal, lumber, and several other raw materials were converted to consumer goods. The Industrial Revolution transformed once agrarian communities into industrial complexes.

This increase in population simultaneously increased the density and the area of cities. Furthermore, by the mechanism that Allen Pred called the "Multiplier Effect" the increased population created an increase in demand for goods. Thus, cities grew rapidly. The advent of efficient forms of transportation such as canals and the railroad multiplied human ability to exploit Earth's resources and distribute them. This opened trade routes and created new cities. Some cities were formed based solely on these new forms of transportation. Moreover, the railroads made it possible to bring raw materials from all over for transformation into consumer goods in the cities.

The economic opportunities of manufacturing was the catalyst of the great migration of Southern African/Americans to Northern Manufacturing centers like Detroit. Just as the increase in immigrant labor had been doing for 100 years the influx of Southern African/Americans created a labor surplus. Eventually movements for safe working conditions, 8-hour workdays, and fair wages were successful. The deindustrialization of the 1950's has as much to do with the deterioration of the American city as industrialization had to do with creating it. What remains are several abandoned manufacturing facilities. The loss of jobs results in poverty and the degradation of neighborhoods. Areas that were once the cosmopolitan areas of the cities become ghettos

Those who have the means to leave flee the city for suburbia. The advent of the automobile facilitates sub-urbanization and sprawl is born. One after the other rural areas fall victim to sub-urbanization. It spreads out from the city like ripples from a stone thrown in undisturbed water. Suburbs become new cities, and eventually the sub-urbanization spreads further. Moreover, in an effort to enhance their recruiting ability corporations build facilities in rural areas further encroaching on ecologically sensitive areas. However, this does not decrease commute time or miles. In fact, from 1983 to 1990 mean vehicle miles per household rose 29%.

As these jobs become available in suburban areas with free parking and attractive landscapes they become attractive to everyone rather than just those in the local community. Therefore, cross commuting becomes common and travel miles increase. Consequently, increased traffic leads to street and highway expansion and development furthering deforestation and encroachment on wildlife habitat. As urban conditions deteriorate more of its population moves out seeking better conditions. As a result service sector jobs move out of the city to suburban strip malls further increasing urban unemployment. The urban dwellers cannot afford to live in the suburbs, nor do they have the means to commute to the suburban jobs. The result is poverty concentation in the inner city.

The affluent suburban dwellers want to gain as much distance from this poverty concentration as possible further causing the povertization of cities. Author Anthony Downs of the Brookings Institute argues that as suburban population increases and support services move to suburbia the city will become obsolete . Many suburban areas no longer depend on their urban centers. They now have their own supermarkets, financial institutions, retailers. Some cities lost 25% of their jobs while their suburbs enjoyed a 5% increase between 1969 and 1986 . As these jobs are lost the urban dwellers fall into a greater state of poverty than already exists. Urban tax bases are decreased and there is decreased investment in schools. These factors increase the gap between classes.

Urban decline leads to increased stratification, crime and human suffering. The response of those living outside the city is that it is not their responsibility. However, suburban dwellers have a social responsibility towards the inner city. Suburbanites have an interest in decreasing the decline of urban areas because all Americans benefit from effectively functioning urban centers and the low wage workers living in them.