Costs Of Sprawl

Provides a working definition of sprawl and its associated costs, then provides historical discussion, dating back to the early 1920s when zoning acts were initially developed, and to the 1950s when the term sprawl entered the planning literature. It also systematically presents the literature on sprawl in chapters that focus on the following major areas of impact: public/private capital and operating costs; transportation and travel costs; land/natural habitat preservation; quality of life; and social issues. Finally, the report presents annotations of studies, organized in chapters that focus on the same five major impact areas as Section II.

This report shows that these policies create a mismatch between the wider social, economic and environmental value of the land being developed, the cost of providing the land with basic municipal services (such as water, hydro and sewage connections, telecommunications lines and paved roadways) and the price that consumers pay to live there. [...] If we keep going down this new and better path for urban development, when the GGH's transformation is complete, many of the ecological and agricultural values of the region will be preserved: some of the world's best farmland will still grow our food, our green spaces will still clean our water and purify our air for free, and provide a home to the unique plants and wildlife of southern Ontario. [...] Rather than evolve and adapt to the new market, they want to make money the old-fashioned way, by sprawling across the countryside and building car-dependent residential areas that cost more for taxpayers, and damage both our quality of life and the environment. [...] As these new outer suburbs saw their populations swell and their developed areas spread, the towns physically and politically merged into what is today's 905 region, blending in to one urban community called the Greater Toronto Area.11 As the GTA ballooned out, it consumed more green space and needed more highways to connect people to the region's core.12 The development of sprawl in the GGH start [...] Located between major thoroughfares and regional train corridors, ads for the development promoted the "realities of an urban lifestyle" in the city, attracting young families and other households from the suburbs to what was a more affordable, public transit-friendly part of the city.15 The City of Brampton is also leading the urban revolution from an unlikely location - the suburbs.

Across the nation, the debate over metropolitan sprawl and its impact has become pivotal to urban planning. A decade and a half ago, Smart Growth America and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sought to raise the level of the debate by sponsoring groundbreaking research to quantitatively measure sprawl and its quality-of-life impacts. The resulting measures are widely used in urban research and public health. Costs of Sprawl provides a panoramic guide to urban form in America, measures sprawl for metropolitan areas, urbanized areas, and counties, and studies the relationship between sprawl and quality-of-life outcomes. From this preliminary investigation, it looks like the costs of sprawl are varied and substantial, and the alternative of compact development is far superior. An essential read for researchers, planners, urban designers, policy makers, and smart growth advocates in the U.S. and abroad, this book provides a comprehensive and detailed analysis of one of the most critical issues in planning today.

The environmental impacts of sprawling development have been well documented, but few comprehensive studies have examined its economic costs. In 1996, a team of experts undertook a multi-year study designed to provide quantitative measures of the costs and benefits of different forms of growth. Sprawl Costs presents a concise and readable summary of the results of that study. The authors analyze the extent of sprawl, define an alternative, more compact form of growth, project the magnitude and location of future growth, and compare what the total costs of those two forms of growth would be if each was applied throughout the nation. They analyze the likely effects of continued sprawl, consider policy options, and discuss examples of how more compact growth would compare with sprawl in particular regions. Finally, they evaluate whether compact growth is likely to produce the benefits claimed by its advocates. The book represents a comprehensive and objective analysis of the costs and benefits of different approaches to growth, and gives decision-makers and others concerned with planning and land use realistic and useful data on the implications of various options and policies.