Stop the Sprawl

In a 20 year period, the top 100 largest areas in the U.S. have spread out 14,545 square miles (“Urban”). Since the end of World War II, people have been moving away from the crowded city centers to clean suburbs. They have become more transient, moving to the city they’ve always wanted to live. This movement and an increase in population is forcing the city limits to expand out of control creating negative effects on our environment. Because of this, there should be more controls on the amount of land used since urban sprawl is causing pollution, the loss of natural resources and the loss of natural landscape.

One of the largest reasons land use should be controlled is due to the pollution cause by the growth and development. With beautiful weather as a draw, people have been moving west from all sides of the country. The large increases in population are luring development to build communities outside the city centers where there is cheap open land. Without any developmental controls, the communities are spreading further before the roads are ready to handle the commuters. Not only are the communities further from work places so people have to travel further to get to work, but then the roads aren’t large enough causing traffic jams for hours throughout the day. By then, the community is already built and running and the city has no room left to plan public transportation. The amount of exhaust being poured into the air by millions of cars each day can be deadly as the smog builds up into a thick fog lying in the valley in places such as Phoenix, AZ. This fog being breathed by the population in these urbanized cities is creating illnesses in the lungs and allergies. The toxic fumes may also be causing cancer but this has not been proved. It is, however, affecting the ozone layer as global warming is taking place. Edward H. Ziegler, a professor at the University Of Denver Sturm College Of Law explained his concern with urban sprawl as, “increasing pollution by cars and trucks may be creating a process of global warming and climate change that could perhaps rival the devastating consequences of the “nuclear winter” feared during the Cold War era (“American”). The glaciers in the far north of the world are melting and the northern states are having some of the mildest winters they’ve seen yet. Without better city planning and growth controls, this problematic pollution will only worsen over time.

Another reason for city planning is the loss of natural resources we are experiencing with such large increases in the population of the southwestern cities, the demand for natural resources rises along with it. The most important resource is water. Cities like Phoenix, AZ and Los Angeles, CA depend on the Colorado River to provide them with the water needed to support millions of people in the desert. However, after decades of use and the increase in demand, the river has been dwindling quickly. Along with the losses of rivers, there has also been a major decrease in farmlands. The farmland owners are finding it much more lucrative to sell their farm to a developer for a new suburb than to keep the farm going. California is feeling the pressure as at one time they were known for being the biggest daily producer in the nation. With such large losses in farm lands, they are losing this status. As Los Angeles is spreading further out, the cows are also being pushed elsewhere. The only outcome of this change can be an increase in grocery costs, as fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, etc. will all cost more than limited farming available. If there was better city planning and controls on urban sprawl, the developers would not have a reason to buy out farmland and instead would look inside the city for rebuilding on run-down land. Doing this would also save the trees that are being cut down. As developers ready the land to be built upon, the trees are being cut down making room for housing. The trees however are not being re-planted or new ones planted at an equal pace. Over time, this can cause an increase in housing prices as the supply of wood will be less then what is needed, raising the prices of wood by the need for importing it from elsewhere.

The loss of rivers and trees gives way to the third reason for the need to control city growth. This reason is the loss of natural landscape and open land. It is inevitable that people love to live in beautiful places. In places like the mountains of Colorado, urban sprawl is polluting the beautiful views. Developments have moved all the way to the bottoms of the mountains and as far up the mountains they can possibly get to offer people breathtaking views. However, the houses along the mountainside have ruined the view for everyone else. As developers find new ways to build further up the slopes with technological advances