What is Urban Sprawl: Causes and Impacts
Suburban sprawl is a generally known as urban sprawl and is defined as growth of urban regions throughout rural or semi-urban regions.
This pattern of development are characterized by sparsely populated housing, extensive reliance on car transport and minimal policy coordination.
Associated with growth and development, urban sprawl has far reaching environmental, social and economic implications Problems.
In this blog, I will seeking to discuss what is urban sprawl, causes, and effects on society and environment.
Defining Urban Sprawl: Classification of the Species, Its Features
Horizontal urban growth is one type of urban sprawl where cities spreads horizontally outwards rather than vertically upwards.
Sprawl is usually less organized than planned urban development and may provide inadequate provisions for infrastructure, zoning and public transit.
Features of Urbanisation or Urban Growth:
1. Low-Density Development:
Subdivisions are common for residential uses; single detached houses are provided on large lots and are not very compact.
2. Dependence on Automobiles:
At the time of survey, there were scarce provisions of public transport thus most of the people preferred to have their personal cars to and from work.
3. Segregation of Land Uses:
Essential facilities are also situated in different areas many of which are extensive in size and are located far from each other resulting to increase inconvenience in everyday operation.
4. Periphery Growth:
Expansion mostly takes place at the periphery of urban areas, and the development blanketing agricultural land and natural ecosystems.
Examples of Urban Sprawl
Place like Los Angeles city in California and Houston city in Texas are examples of cities that have been marred by urban sprawl.
In these cities, suburban structures go for great distances beyond the city center so that they come close to making metropolitan structures.
Causes of Urban Sprawl: What Drives Unplanned Growth?
We however opine that urban sprawl cannot be clearly attributed to any single cause but rather by a number of factors kin to social aspects, economical issues and policies.
These drivers can be attributed more often to the inability to well coordinate population increase and proper urbanization.
1. Population Growth
With concern to the population, the increase of population within the urban area leads to increase in the housing, infrastructure and services. This growth is not well coordinated hence spreads over the suburban and rural regions.
2. Economic Affordability
Urban fringes are generally cheaper, not only in terms of land for property development but also in housing prices, making them a favorite of families and developers.
Such an affordability motivates the outward expansion.
3. Lifestyle Preferences
A lot of people like the suburban lifestyle of having a big house with a lawn and backyard with no strangers walking by and feeling ‘safe’.
They promote low density development patterns mainly due to this preference.
4. Transportation Infrastructure
Highways and road networks are obtained hence helping in the creation of the subsidies suburban living since one is in a position to commute the urban centers.
However the reliance of the citizens on automobiles only worsens congestion and sprawl.
5. Poor urban development and poor policies
It means that due to the weak zoning requirements and a division of jurisdictions, regional development is chaotic.
Lack of supervision, therefore, results into the dilute development like the urban sprawl characteristic.
6. Retail and Store Growth
Super retail amenities that are massive in size are situated at urban periphery therefore giving more encouragement to the extension of the suburbs.
Impacts of Urban Sprawl: Difficulties for the Society and the Environment
The effects of urbanization are strongly positive with regards to population growth and economic gains through development of extensions but negative impacts on sustainable development.
Environmental Impacts
A key issue that hats social development in most South African provinces is the loss of space due to urbanisation, which directly leads to pollution of the environment due to destruction of natural habitats and arable land.
1. Loss of Biodiversity:
Growing urbanization brings disruption to bio geocenoses and displaces fauna.
2. Increased Carbon Emissions:
The many automobiles cause air pollution and addition to the greenhouse gases.
3. Water Resource Strain:
Sprawl development puts pressure on local watersheds since the large number of developments consumes the available water, and since the surfaces created are impervious, there is a lot of runoff and pollution.
Social and Economic Challenges
Socio economic factors are major factors that are known to dictate the pace and type of development that can take place in a country.
This structure of substantial dispersion of the metropolitan area leads to cycle losses that influence the life of inhabitants of such cities and their work opportunities.
1. Increased Commute Times:
Due to poor access to social mobility people end up having to spend more money and a lot of time getting around.
2. Infrastructure Costs:
Supplying electric, water or sewage to the suburban areas is expensive and mostly unprofitable.
3. Community Fragmentation:
The geographical distribution of sprawl means that there is limited interaction that can take place between people and communities.
4. Public Health Concerns
Urban expansion leads to increased cases of people living a compromising lifestyle and developing diseases associated with inactivity.
5. Reduced Physical Activity:
Patterned transport usage mainly the car results to inactivity of walking and cycling.
6. Air Quality Issues:
Increased emission levels from cars are responsible for respiratory diseases, and other related complications.
7. Access to Services:
Large development makes it difficult to find healthcare, education, and recreation centers sometimes because they are surrounded by extensive expanses of development.
8. Economic Inequality
In most cases, urbanization expansion increases inequity within the society between the urban and suburban citizens.
The poor persons are left in the city centers while the well-endowed communities relocate to suburbs.
Conclusion
Urban sprawl is complex social process that has significant tremendous effects on the society and physical environment.
Promoting short-term profits such as the provision of low-cost houses and economic development achievements, it also led to deterioration and poor structure, high costs of infrastructure, social exclusion.
The challenge of sprawl must be met by changes in the way cities are planned and developed: use of limited space, the provision of public transport, and sound zoning arrangements.
Thus, the concept of sustainable development postulates compact urban development putting into effect, in order that environment and quality of life of concerned regions’ inhabitants might not worry about their future.
Also read: The Hidden Cost of Suburban Sprawl: A Housing Inequality Perspective