April 28, 2011
The Origins of S p r a w l
The Urbanophile recently reposted an excellent article from 2009 on the origins and problems of sprawl. He summarizes many things that I've alluded to here over the years. Since I've never gotten around to putting all this information in one place, here's an alternative.
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4 comments:
Excellent article.
If I can find the time I want to do my own follow up. He left out a few contributors. Mixed-use urban forms that were illegal for fifty years. Parking requirements that were excessive and initially arbitrary and becoming self reinforcing over time. Pre civil rights era housing policies that deliberately enforced racial and economic segregation.
Another contributor was, in fact, the civil rights movement. The black neighborhoods experienced a massive loss of middle-class families that fled the segregated schools and neighborhoods and moved to the better schools and suburban-style neighborhoods. Only the poor were left behind, which destroyed the black business community (which had previously been quite robust and entrepreneurial). Ask Ollie Gates.
I've heard that. I don't have anything in my library on the subject, so I don't feel comfortable speaking on it. (If anyone knows of good reading material please post.)
Jane Jacobs speaks of hundreds of small locally-owned businesses being destroyed to make room for highways. Since highways were frequently used to hurt minority neighborhoods, I'll bet there's a lot of overlap.
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