The Effects of Urban Sprawl on Our Environment and Culture 1

The Effects of Urban Sprawl on Our Environment and

The concept of urban sprawl as a social issue is one that can have strong impacts on a city and its

surrounding suburban areas. As simply as it can be put, urban sprawl is the spreading of urban development onto

undeveloped land near a city. In some cases, a city can experience rampant growth in a short amount of time while

other cities experience a slower, steadier growth rate. Factors such as immigration, strong economy, increased

incomes and new job opportunities are examples of reasons that a city will grow large and subsequently begin

developing the land that surrounds it. As a city sprawls out it must maintain an infrastructure and resource supply

that can support population growth. If a city fails to do this it can lead to over-crowded schools, traffic congestion,

high unemployment rates, pollution and even sanitation problems.

When viewing Urban Sprawl from the man-land tradition of geography there are many lessons that we

have learned from historical accounts and many that we will have to overcome in the future. One can look back to

the Roman Empire for a prime example of how rapid population growth without proper infrastructure to support it

contributed to the fall of a great empire. As the population grew larger the aqueducts, sewer system, and

transportation systems had been outgrown and neglected due to the emphasis places on military conquest and the

amount of gold and silver being funneled into the military caused taxes and inflation to increase rapidly as well. We

can learn the valuable lesson, which is true in modern day, from these historical accounts that our supporting

framework must grow and be able to accommodate a population as our cities expand.

Today, when we look at the effects that we are having on our environment, we have cause to be concerned

about global warming from the burning of fossil fuels and the subsequent greenhouse effect that is produced.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, “Global surface temperatures have increased about 0.74C (plus or

minus 0.18C) since the late-19th century, and the linear trend for the past 50 years of 0.13C (plus or minus 0.03C)

per decade is nearly twice that for the past 100 years.”(NCDC, 2008). This data shows an obvious increase in the

speed at which our planet is warming and it is being caused by our consumption of coal, oil and gas. The causes and

effects of this trend are not limited to any specific region. The ramifications will be global in scale and include a

rising sea level, increased rainfall and flooding, danger to plant and animal species in regions across the spectrum

and other irreparable damage to our planet. If we take into account the estimated world population increase over the

next 45 years of 2.6 billion(United Nations, 2005.) and assume that energy consumption will continue to increase
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with population growth then we can expect our rate of global warming to increase at a progressively more rapid

pace.

The problems we will face from the sprawling out of cities, when viewed from a spatial tradition

perspective, can be shown to be a strong contributor to the air pollution problem. As a city grows in size and

envelops surrounding areas to create suburbs the population of commuters also gets larger. Newer and nicer homes

are continually developed on the outskirts of a city enticing families to move and commute. The larger that the

number of commuters grows, the more damage we are doing to the environment. Populations will always have a

need to move across space in a large city and public transportation can go a long way towards preventing

greenhouse gases from being released into the atmosphere, but in most cases, the public transportation system is not

available or not convenient to the suburbs. Those who are most likely to use public transportation are those that must

because they cannot afford their own automobile. Those with a choice will usually choose the freedom and

convenience of driving their own vehicle.

Another impact of urban sprawl that has dramatically impacted Americans is the fast-paced lifestyle that

masses of commuters live. With travel times increasing, and taking more time during morning and evening routines,

there is a need for quick meals and more efficient shopping. Fast food restaurant chains have blanketed large cities

in America, offering cheap, fast and delicious meal options. These meals sacrifice nutritional quality in order to

meet the desires of the people. Much of America’s obesity problem can be linked to the fast-paced fast food culture

that has been created by city growth. The New York Times states, “In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on

fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion. Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher

education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars.” Also, with less time for doing necessary shopping,

many people have turned to the internet as a means to do much of their shopping. People can purchase clothing,

order pizza, and even go to college online now. Some necessities, such as groceries, cannot be ordered online

effectively but many options become available to make busy lives more convenient. Unfortunately, this often takes

money away from local economies. Many local businesses can no longer compete with the internet giants. For

example, with the massive inventory and competitive pricing of Amazon.com’s books it would be very difficult to

open a small local bookstore. Commuters can now download audio books for their morning and afternoon drive and

time spent stuck in traffic. With more convenience becoming available, as the demand increases and technology
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improves, it will become increasingly harder for small local businesses to remain open. All of the above factors

combined will take away from the culture and diversity of an area.

As large cities sprawl further outwards we can see another affect of the man-land geography in action. The

growth of a city depends on new land in the surrounding areas being converted into urban developments. Much of

this land is the farmland that we use to supply us with our food resources. Arable land is converted into Suburban

housing developments and pushes the farming further and further away. Once this land has been converted there is

no way to reclaim it. High quality topsoil is removed and replaced with concrete foundations for homes.

Technological advances and bioengineered crops help sustain an appropriate food source for now but steps must

continue to be taken to provide adequate food resources. The food that is grown in urban communities must be

moved from farmland to processing plants via trucks or railways. After processing the food it must travel further to

arrive at restaurants and grocery stores within the cities. The transportation of food contributes to the greenhouse

emissions being put into our atmosphere and further affects our air quality. There has also been a great deal of

controversy over the use of Ethanol to power vehicles as we run out of fossil fuels. This would require vast fields of

crops to produce a sustainable fuel source. We are losing our fertile farmland but creating a need for more of it at

the same time.

Some steps have been taken to counteract the harm being done to the environment. Energy-efficient tax

breaks have become available from the federal government for citizens that purchase energy-saving appliances for

their homes. There are other tax incentives are also available in some states for purchasing hybrid vehicles that cut

down on emissions. Private companies have gotten involved by offering their own incentives for driving hybrid

vehicles, carpooling, and even offering free shuttle rides to employees. The most important task is educating our

population about the dangers of polluting our atmosphere and losing our farmland. If we can develop technology

that will allow us to sustain food production, significantly reduce greenhouse emissions, and use existing urban land

more efficiently then we can find a proper equilibrium to sustain life.

For now there are still many concerns about the safety and stability of our modern cities. Although urban

sprawl is not universally detrimental to our society it does have the ability to cause a great deal of damage to our

planet. Geographers work to plan and guide our urban development in the best way possible but it is often not
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enough. Most of us turn a blind eye to air pollution, loss of arable land, depletion of non-renewable resources, and

the threat of overpopulation. Hopefully future generations will not have to pay the price of our apathy.
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Works Cited

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/globalwarming.html#q1. National Climatic Data Center, 2008. Web. 21 May

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/pop918.doc.htm. United Nations Population Division, 2005. Web. 21

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schlosser-fast.html. New York Times, 200. Web. 21 May 2010