Although sprawl is a growing national debate, there have been few efforts to measure or monitor changes in degree of sprawl over time. By using a methodology that employs census data, this sprawl index allows computation of levels of sprawl and examination of temporal and geographic changes. The results show that sprawl has increased over the past decade in many metropolitan areas. There are important geographic variations in sprawl, implying that it is neither inevitable nor universal.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Beaumont, C.1997. How superstore sprawl can harm communities: And what citizens can do about it. Washington, DC: National Trust for Historic Preservation.
2.
Black, T.1996. The economics of sprawl. Urban Land55 (3): 6-52.
3.
Brueckner, J.1990. Growth controls and land values in an open city. Land Economics66 (3): 237-48.
4.
Bullard, R. , G. Johnson, and A. Torres. 2000. Sprawl city: Race, politics and planning in Atlanta. Washington, DC: Island Press.
5.
Burchell, R. , N. Shad, D. Litokin, H. Phillips, A. Downs, S. Seskin, J. Davis, T. Moore, D. Helton, and M. Gall. 1998. The costs of sprawl revisited. TCRP report no. 39. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
6.
Coulter, P.1989. Measuring inequality: A methodological handbook. Boulder, CO: Westview.
7.
Downs, A.1999. Some realities about sprawl and urban decline. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
8.
Duany, A. , E. Plater-Zyberk, and J Speck. 2000. Suburban nation. New York: North Point.
9.
Environmental Economics Symposium Committee . 1999. In South Florida, the environment is the economy. Miami, FL: Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.
10.
Ewing, R.1997. Is Los Angeles-style sprawl desirable?Journal of the American Planning Association63 (1): 107-26.
11.
Firestone, D. 2001. The new look suburbs: Denser or more far-flung. New York Times, 17 April, 1.
12.
Freeman, L.2001. The effects of sprawl on neighborhood social ties: An explanatory analysis. Journal of the American Planning Association67 (1): 69-77.
13.
Fulton, W. , R. Pendall, M. Nguyen, and A. Harrison. 2001. Who sprawls most? How growth patterns differ across the U.S.Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
14.
Galster, G. , R. Hanson, H. Woman, S. Coleman, and J. Friebage. 2000. Wrestling sprawl to the ground: Defining and measuring an elusive concept. Washington, DC: Fannie Mae.
15.
Garreau, J.1991. Edge city: Life on the new frontier. New York: Doubleday.
16.
Glaeser, E. , and M. Kahn. 2001. Decentralized employment and the transformation of the American city. Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
17.
Glaeser, E. , M. Kahn, and C. Chu. 2001. Job sprawl: Employment location in U.S. metropolitan areas. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
18.
Gordon, P. , and H. Richardson. 1997. Are compact cities a desirable planning goal?Journal of the American Planning Association63 (1): 107-26.
19.
Hayward, S.1998. Legends of the sprawl. Policy Review91:26-32.
20.
Heim, C.2001. Leapfrogging, urban sprawl, and growth management: Phoenix, 1950-2000. American Journal of Economics and Sociology60 (1): 245-83.
21.
Heinlich, R. , and W. Andersen. 2001. Development at the urban fringe and beyond: Impacts on agriculture and rural land. ERS agriculture economics report no. 803. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture.
22.
Henderson, V. , and M. Arindam. 1996. The new urban landscape: Developers and edge cities. Regional Science and Urban Economics26:613-43.
23.
Hubler, S. 2001. San Jose almost arrives, until the tech downturn, the city seemed poised to rival L. A. and San Francisco in influence. Los Angeles Times, 14 August, A1.
24.
Jackson, K.1985. Crabgrass frontier: The suburbanization of the United States. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
25.
Johnson, M.2001. Environmental impacts of urban sprawl: A survey of the literature and proposed research agenda. Environment and Planning33:717-35.
26.
Jordan, S. , J. Ross, and K. Usowski. 1998. U.S. suburbanization in the 1980s. Regional Science and Urban Economics28:611-27.
27.
Kahn, M.2001. Does sprawl reduce the black∕white housing consumption gap?Housing Policy Debate12 (1): 77-86.
28.
Kline, J.2000. Comparing states with and without growth management: Analysis based on indicators with policy implications comment. Land Use Policy17:349-55.
29.
Kunstler, J.1993. The geography of nowhere. The rise and decline of America’s man-made landscape. New York: Simon and Schuster.
30.
Lehrer, U. , and R. Milgram. 1996. New (sub)urbanism: Countersprawl or repackaging the product. Capitalism, Nature and Socialism7 (2): 49-62.
31.
Mathews, J.1999. The Los Angeles of the north: San Jose’s transition from fruit capital to high-tech metropolis. Journal of Urban History25 (4): 459-76.
32.
Mieszkowski, P. , and E. Mills. 1993. The causes of metropolitan suburbanization. Journal of Economic Perspectives7 (3): 135-47.
33.
Nelson, A.1999. Comparing states with and without growth management: Analysis based on indicators with policy implications. Land Use Policy16:121-27.
34.
Ohls, J. , and D. Pines. 1975. Discontinuous urban development and economic efficiency. Land Economics3:224-34.
35.
Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade and Douglas, Inc.1996. Transit and urban form. Vol. 1, Transit, urban form, and the built environment: A summary of knowledge. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
36.
Popenoe, D.1979. Urban sprawl: Some neglected sociological considerations. Sociology and Social Research63 (2): 255-68.
37.
Ross, C., and A. Dunning. 1997. Land use transportation interaction: An examination of the 1995 NPTS data. Report prepared for the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.
38.
Sheehan, M.2001. City limits: Putting the breaks on sprawl. Worldwatch paper no. 156. Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute.
39.
Wallace, R.1988. A synergism of plagues: Planned shrinkage, contagious housing destruction and AIDS in the Bronx. Environmental Research47 (1): 1-33.
40.
Zoll, D. 1998. The economic cleansing of San Francisco. San Francisco Bay Guardian, 7 October, 1.
