As the world becomes ever more urbanized, a growing phenomenon of outward growth has been observed. Sprawl implies the shift of residential homes and businesses out of the inner parts of the cities to the suburbs. It has deep consequences for both the existing urban areas as well as the suburban locations.
Effects on Suburbs
The growth of suburbs means that people become increasingly spread out, and it becomes difficult to develop public transportation services. Therefore, more and more people are forced to drive their private cars, and that is environmentally unfriendly. Therefore, the increased use of cars leads to higher carbon emissions (Barnett and Beasley, 2015). In any case, most of the people who move to the suburbs are those who desire to have more space, and it would not be hard for them to afford a car. It is no surprise then that suburban areas are characterized by income inequalities. The poor families have problems moving around since many of the people there move around by car (Barnett and Beasley, 2015). Apart from that, the quality of life in suburban areas might decline because some of the residents cannot afford facilities such as cinemas and have to travel long distances to find affordable facilities.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Secondly, the movement to the outer bounds of the city is often unplanned and uncoordinated. Therefore, it is not too uncommon for the suburbs to have their facilities overstretched due to the increase in the number of residents. The pace of growth of the residences and businesses in the suburbs far outweigh that of the development of the necessary infrastructure and facilities required to cater to a growing population (Barnett and Beasley, 2015). A good example is Las Vegas where an exponential growth in the population living in the suburban area meant that the water supply was adequate for everyone.
Undoubtedly, the growth of suburbs also implies that more funds are required to provide infrastructure such as roads. For example, a study showed that the scatter model that is part of sprawl would cost the state of Maryland $10 billion more than if the growth followed a more concentrated model (Barnett and Beasley, 2015).
Effects on Urban Areas
Sprawl also has its effects on urban areas. The shifting of businesses such as malls and industrial parks from downtown locations means that cities experience a steady decline. As more and more people look to settle in the outlying areas, cities suffer the consequence of reduced economic activity and a slow path to decline. Such was the case in Portland, Oregon before the 1990s when movement out of the city resulted in its near death (Barnett and Beasley, 2015). Apart from that, the cities not only have to deal with reduced tax revenues due to declined business but also have to bear the costs of redevelopment of the downtown properties.
References
Barnett, J. and Beasley, L. (2015). Ecodesign for Cities and Suburbs Washington D.C: Island Press.
