Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Sprawl is a popular subject in the urban literature, yet conceptualization and measurement have proven elusive. Projects which focus either on empirical advances in the quantification of urban form or related phenomena like travel behavior are rarely conversant, leading to a fundamental disconnect between operationalizing the concept and modeling its effects. Here, I build on previous work in developing a new index of sprawl and examine changes in urban morphology at the metropolitan level in the United States from 2000 to 2010. I then illustrate face validity by outlining suggestive relationships between the index and associated environmental and housing outcomes, while comparing it with other commonly used measures. I find that sprawl continues into the twenty-first century, and that this proposed measure demonstrates initial face validity with respect to key environmental and housing outcomes. I conclude with a discussion of the results and suggestions for future research.

Keywords

sprawl environment polycentricity density housing

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alonso

1964. Location and Land Use. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.

Anthony

2004. “Do State Growth Management Regulations Reduce Sprawl?” Urban Affairs Review 39 (3): 376–97.

Bento

A. M.

Cropper

M. L.

Mobarak

A. M.

Vinha

2005. “The Effects of Urban Spatial Structure on Travel Demand in the United States.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 87 (3): 466–78.

Bereitschaft

Debbage

2014. “Regional Variations in Urban Fragmentation Among U.S. Metropolitan and Megapolitan Areas.” Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy 7 (2): 119–47.

Brueckner

J. K.

2001. “Urban Sprawl: Lessons from Urban Economics.” Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs 2001:65–97.

Buliung

R. N.

Kanaroglou

P. S.

2006. “Urban Form and Household Activity-Travel Behavior.” Growth and Change 37 (2): 172–99.

Burchfield

Overman

H. G.

Puga

Turner

M. A.

2006. “Causes of Sprawl: A Portrait from Space.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 121 (2): 587–633.

Clark

T. A.

2013. “Metropolitan Density, Energy Efficiency and Carbon Emissions: Multi-attribute Tradeoffs and Their Policy Implications.” Energy Policy 53:413–28.

Covington

K. L.

2009. “Spatial Mismatch of the Poor: An Explanation of Recent Declines in Job Isolation.” Journal of Urban Affairs 31 (5): 559–87.

10.

Cutsinger

Galster

Wolman

Hanson

Towns

2005. “Verifying the Multi-dimensional Nature of Metropolitan Land Use: Advancing the Understanding and Measurement of Sprawl.” Journal of Urban Affairs 27 (3): 235–59.

11.

Department of Housing and Urban Development. 2014. “Location Affordability Portal: Understanding the Combined Cost of Housing and Transportation.” http://www.locationaffordability.info/lai.aspx (accessed January 14th, 2015).

12.

Detroit Future City. 2014. “The Land Use Element: The Image of the City.” http://detroitfuturecity.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/DFC_LandUse_2ndEd.pdf (accessed June 15, 2014).

13.

Downs

1999. “Some Realities About Sprawl and Urban Decline.” Housing Policy Debate 10 (4): 955–74.

14.

Ewing

Cervero

2010. “Travel and the Built Environment: A Meta-analysis.” Journal of the American Planning Association 76 (3): 265–94.

15.

Ewing

Hamidi

2014. “Smart Growth America: Measuring Sprawl 2014.” http://gis.cancer.gov/tools/urban-sprawl/ (accessed April 25, 2014).

16.

Ewing

Pendall

Chen

2003. “Measuring Sprawl and Its Transportation Impacts.” Transportation Research Record 1831:175–83.

17.

Ewing

Rong

2008. “The Impact of Urban Form on U.S. Residential Energy Use.” Housing Policy Debate 19 (1): 1–30.

18.

Frey

W. H.

2014. “Brookings Institute: Will This Be the Decade of Big City Growth? ” http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2014/05/23-decade-of-big-city-growth-frey (accessed June 15, 2014).

19.

Gaigné

Riou

Thisse

J. F.

2012. “Are Compact Cities Environmentally Friendly?” Journal of Urban Economics 72 (2): 123–36.

20.

Galster

Hanson

Ratcliffe

M. R.

Wolman

Coleman

Freihage

2001. “Wrestling Sprawl to the Ground: Defining and Measuring an Elusive Concept.” Housing Policy Debate 12 (4): 681–717.

21.

Glaeser

E. L.

Kahn

M. E.

2004. “Sprawl and Urban Growth.” Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics 4:2481–527.

22.

Glaeser

E. L.

Schuetz

Ward

2006. “Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston: Regulation and the Rise of Housing Prices in Greater Boston.” http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/pdfs/centersprograms/centers/rappaport/policybriefs/brief_housingregs.pdf (accessed April 29, 2014).

23.

Grazi

van den Bergh

J. C. J. M.

van Ommeren

J. N.

2008. “An Empirical Analysis of Urban Form, Transport, and Global Warming.” The Energy Journal 29 (4): 97–122.

24.

Guerra

Cervero

2011. “Cost of a Ride: The Effects of Densities on Fixed-Guideway Transit Ridership and Costs.” Journal of the American Planning Association 77 (3): 267–90.

25.

Gurney

K. R.

Mendoza

D. L.

Zhou

Fischer

M. L.

Miller

C. C.

Geethakumar

de la Rue du Can

2009. “High Resolution Fossil Fuel Combustion: CO₂ Emission Fluxes for the United States.” Environmental Science & Technology 43 (14): 5535–41.

26.

Hankey

Marshall

J. D.

2010. “Impacts of Urban Form on Future US Passenger-Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” Energy Policy 38:4880–87.

27.

Howell-Moroney

2007. “Studying the Effects of the Intensity of US State Growth Management Approaches on Land Development Outcomes.” Urban Studies 44 (11): 2163–78.

28.

Irwin

E. G.

Bockstael

N. E.

2007. “The Evolution of Urban Sprawl: Evidence of Spatial Heterogeneity and Increasing Land Fragmentation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (52): 20672–77.

29.

Jaeger

J. A. G.

Schwick

2014. “Improving the Measurement of Urban Sprawl: Weighted Urban Proliferation (WUP) and Its Application to Switzerland.” Ecological Indicators 38:294–308.

30.

Jaret

Ghadge

Reid

L. W.

Adelman

R. M.

2009. “The Measurement of Suburban Sprawl: An Evaluation.” City & Community 8 (1): 65–84.

31.

Lee

Kurisu

Hanaki

Forthcoming. “Development of the Compact City Index and Its Applications to Japanese Cities.” Urban Studies.

32.

Lopez

2014. “Urban Sprawl 1970-2010 Data.” http://www.russlopez.com/data (accessed January 14th, 2015)

33.

Lopez

Hynes

H. P.

2003. “Sprawl in the 1990s: Measurement, Distribution, and Trends.” Urban Affairs Review 38 (3): 325–55.

34.

McMillen

D. P.

2001. “Nonparametric Employment Subcenter Identification.” Journal of Urban Economics 50 (3): 448–73.

35.

Modarres

2011. “Polycentricity, Commuting Pattern, Urban Form: The Case of Southern California.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 35 (6): 1193–211.

36.

Muth

1968. Cities and Housing. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.

37.

National Emissions Inventory. 2014. “The 2011 National Emissions Inventory.” http://www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/net/2011inventory.html (accessed January 14th, 2015).

38.

Office of Management and Budget. 2013. “Revised Delineations of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, Micropolitan Statistical Areas, and Combined Statistical Areas, and Guidance on Uses of the Delineations of These Areas.” OMB Bulletin No. 13-01. Washington, DC.

39.

Parshall

Gurney

Hammer

S.A.

Mendoza

Zhou

Geethakumar

2010. “Modeling Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions at the Urban Scale: Methodological Challenges and Insights from the United States.” Energy Policy 38: 4765-4782.

40.

Paulsen

2013. “The Effects of Growth Management on the Spatial Extent of Urban Development, Revisited.” Land Economics 89 (2): 193–210.

41.

Paulsen

2014. “Geography, Policy or Market? New Evidence on the Measurement and Causes of Sprawl (and Infill) in US Metropolitan Regions.” Urban Studies 51(12): 2629-2645.

42.

Pendall

Puentes

Martin

2006. “The Brookings Institution Policy Briefs—From Traditional to Reformed: A Review of the Land Use Regulations in the Nation’s 50 Largest Metropolitan Areas.” http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2006/8/metropolitanpolicy%20pendall/20060802_pendall.pdf (accessed April 25, 2014).

43.

Rappaport

2008. “A Productivity Model of City Crowdedness.” Journal of Urban Economics 63 (2): 715–22.

44.

Rudel

T. K.

O’Neill

Gottlieb

McDermott

Hatfield

2011. “From Middle to Upper Class Sprawl? Land Use Controls and Changing Patterns of Real Estate Development in Northern New Jersey.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 101 (3): 609–34.

45.

Speir

Stephenson

2002. “Does Sprawl Cost Us All? Isolating the Effects of Housing Patterns on Public Water and Sewer Costs.” Journal of the American Planning Association 68 (1): 56–70.

46.

Steinacker

2003. “Infill Development and Affordable Housing: Patterns from 1996 to 2000.” Urban Affairs Review 38 (4): 492–509.

47.

Stone

2008. “Urban Sprawl and Air Quality in Large US Cities.” Journal of Environmental Management 86 (4): 688–98.

48.

Stone

Hess

J. J.

Frumkin

2010. “Urban Form and Extreme Heat Events: Are Sprawling Cities More Vulnerable to Climate Change than Compact Cities?” Environmental Health Perspectives 118 (10): 1425–28.

49.

Stone

Jr. Mednick

A. C.

Holloway

Spak

S. N.

2007. “Is Compact Growth Good for Air Quality?” Journal of the American Planning Association 73 (4): 404–18.

50.

2011. “The Effect of Population Density, Road Network Density, and Congestion on Household Gasoline Consumption in U.S. Urban Areas.” Energy Economics 33: 445-452.

51.

Taylor

B. D.

Miller

Iseki

Fink

2009. “Nature and/or Nurture? Analyzing the Determinants of Transit Ridership Across US Urbanized Areas.” Transportation Research Part A 43 (1): 60–77.

52.

Tsai

Forthcoming. “Housing Demand Forces and Land Use Towards Urban Compactness: A Push-Accessibility-Pull Analysis Framework.” Urban Studies.

53.

Vulcan Project. 2014. “Complete U.S.” Vulcan Fossil Fuel CO₂ Data. http://vulcan.project.asu.edu/research.php (accessed June 10, 2014).

54.

Warner

Molotch

1995. “Power to Build: How Development Persists Despite Local Controls.” Urban Affairs Review 30 (3): 378–406.

55.

Zhao

Kaestner

2010. “Effects of Urban Sprawl on Obesity.” Journal of Health Economics 29 (6): 779–87.