Unit 4 - URBAN SPRAWL

Urban sprawl or suburban sprawl is a multifaceted concept centered on the expansion of auto-oriented, lowdensity development. Topics range from the outward spreading of a city and its suburbs, to low-density and autodependent development on rural land, examination of impact of high segregation between residential and
commercial uses, and analysis of various design features to determine which may encourage car dependency.[1] The
term "sprawl" is most often associated with US land use, and outside the term "peri-urbanisation" is often used to
denote similar dynamics and phenomena. The term urban sprawl generally has negative connotations due to the
health, environmental and cultural issues associated with the phrase. [2] Residents of sprawling neighbourhoods tend
to emit more pollution per person and suffer more traffic fatalities.
Characteristics
1. Single use zoning - This refers to a situation where commercial, residential, institutional and industrial
areas are separated from one another. Consequently, large tracts of land are devoted to a single use and are
segregated from one another by open space, infrastructure, or other barriers. As a result, the places where
people live, work, shop, and recreate are far from one another, usually to the extent that walking, transit use
and bicycling are impractical, so all these activities generally require an automobile.

2. Low-density zoning - Sprawl consumes much more land per-capita than traditional urban
developments because zoning laws generally require that new developments are of low density.
The exact definition of "low density" is arguable, but a common example is that of single family
homes on large lots, with four or fewer units per net acre. Buildings usually have fewer stories and
are spaced farther apart, separated by lawns, landscaping, roads or parking lots. Lot sizes are
larger, and because more automobiles are used much more land is designated for parking. The
impact of low density development in many communities is that developed or "urbanized" land is
increasing at a faster rate than the population is growing.
3. Car Dependent Communities - Areas of urban sprawl are also characterized as highly dependent on
automobiles for transportation, a condition known as automobile dependency. Most activities, such as
shopping and commuting to work, require the use of a car as a result of both the area's isolation from the
city and the isolation the area's residential zones have from its industrial and commercial zones. Walking
and other methods of transit are not practical; therefore, many of these areas have few or no sidewalks. In
many suburban communities, stores and activities that are in close physical proximity require automobiles,
because the different areas are separated by fences, walls, and drainage ditches. Some critics argue that
excessive parking requirements exacerbate car dependency.
4. Job sprawl and spatial mismatch - Job Sprawl is another land use symptom of urban sprawl and cardependent communities. It is defined as low-density, geographically spread-out patterns of employment,
where the majority of jobs in a given metropolitan area are located outside of the main city's Central
Business District (CBD), and increasingly in the suburban periphery. It is often the result of urban
disinvestment, the geographic freedom of employment location allowed by predominantly car-dependent
commuting patterns of many American suburbs, and many companies' desire to locate in low-density areas
that are often more affordable and offer potential for expansion. Spatial mismatch is related to job sprawl
and economic Environmental Justice. Spatial Mismatch is defined as the situation where poor urban,
predominantly minority citizens are left without easy access to entry-level jobs, as a result of increasing job
sprawl and limited transportation options to facilitate a reverse commute to the suburbs.
5. Conversion of agricultural land to residential - Land for expansion of suburban
housing is usually purchased from farmers and/or ranchers. In the United States the
seller may avoid tax on profit by using a tax break exempting like-kind exchanges
from capital gains tax; proceeds from the sale are used to purchase cheap
agricultural land elsewhere and the transaction is treated as a "swap" or trade of like
assets and no tax is due. Thus urban sprawl is subsidized by the tax code

DEVELOPMENT CHARACTERISTICS & FEATURES

1. Housing subdivisions are large tracts of land consisting entirely of newly built residences. Prominent
New Urbanist architectural firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company claim that housing subdivisions "are
sometimes called villages, towns, and neighbourhoods by their developers, which is misleading since
those terms denote places that are not exclusively residential." [14] They are also referred to as
developments. Subdivisions often incorporate curved roads and cul-de-sacs. These subdivisions may
offer only a few places to enter and exit the development, causing traffic to use high volume collector
streets.
2. Shopping centres are locations consisting of retail space. In the U.S. and Canada, these vary from strip
malls, which refer to collections of buildings sharing a common parking lot, usually built on a highcapacity roadway with commercial functions (i.e., a "strip"). Similar developments in the UK are called
Retail Parks. Strip malls/retail parks contain a wide variety of retail and non-retail functions that also
cater to daily use (e.g. video rental, takeout food, laundry services, hairdresser). Strip malls consisting
mostly of big box stores or category killers are sometimes called "power centers" (U.S.). These
developments tend to be low-density; the buildings are single-story and there is ample space for
parking and access for delivery vehicles. This character is reflected in the spacious landscaping of the
parking lots and walkways and clear signage of the retail establishments. Some strip malls are
undergoing a transformation into Lifestyle centers; entailing investments in common areas and
facilities (plazas, cafes) and shifting tenancy from daily goods to recreational shopping. European
countries such as France, Belgium and Germany have implemented size restrictions for superstores
found in strip malls in an effort to limit sprawl (Davies 1995).
3. Shopping Malls - Another prominent form of retail development in areas characterized by "sprawl" is
the shopping mall. Unlike the strip mall, this is usually composed of a single building surrounded by a
parking lot that contains multiple shops, usually "anchored" by one or more department stores (Gruen
and Smith 1960). The function and size is also distinct from the strip mall. The focus is almost
exclusively on recreational shopping rather than daily goods. Shopping malls also tend to serve a wider
(regional) public and require higher-order infrastructure such as highway access and can have
floorspaces in excess of a million square feet (ca. 100,000 m). Shopping malls are often detrimental to
downtown shopping centres of nearby cities since the shopping malls act as a surrogate for the city
centre (Crawford 1992).