Urban Sprawl, Crime and Pollution Issues

Urban Sprawl contributes to an increase in crime.

We learn from Kevin Early, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Michigan tells us that (Early, 2005) “in urban areas, crime is more abundant than in suburbs or rural areas. ” Early argues that “many reasons probably contribute to this issue such as unemployment, poverty and drug use and all of the governments strategies have not worked thus far and Americans’ still fear crime. ” This helps us to understand more about urban sprawl contributing to an increase in crime. Laura K. Egendorf helps us to understand more about urban sprawl contributing to a higher crime rate when she explains that, “We can learn that Across the nation, the American Automobile Association's Foundation for Traffic Safety reported an increase of road rage incidents of nearly 60 percent between 1991 and 1996 resulting in 28,000 deaths annually during these years. Increasing traffic congestion and the accompanying stress that are associated with urban and suburban sprawl reflect the social costs of the nation's emerging patterns of metropolitan development.

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” The social impact of uneven spatial development in urban America, however, is not a new story. We understand that different levels of development has remained a basic feature of urban and metropolitan growth for the United States. In recent years, the word "sprawl" has crept into the vocabulary of scholars, public officials, and community organization leaders who are fighting with different challenges on urban life. Suburban sprawl has been the main form of metropolitan-area growth in the United States for the past 50 years.

These patterns of growth are closely connected with the spectrum of problems that are associated with cities. We can examine the many causes and consequences of sprawl and uneven development, as well as the arguments over a range of proposed policy responses. It explores the many social costs attributed to sprawl as well as the benefits that some attribute to this form of development. In addition, it examines what has been learned from various efforts to counter emerging patterns of uneven development and mitigate the accompanying costs. The overriding focus of these debates remains the uneven development of the cities and suburbs that form the nation's metropolitan communities. We learn from an article that summarizes the relationship between air pollution and health problems, when John Eyles, a geography professor and Nicole Consitt, a research assistant at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, explain that “because of the way modern food is produced people are exposed to toxins. ” The authors conclude that this is a worldwide issue and that international cooperation is necessary.

Compared to other sources this information is very detailed and covers all the bases linked with pollution and health problems. William Cunningham discusses urban sprawl and where it starts and what it leaves behind. This article summarizes urban sprawl by discussing briefly all the issues that come with it. Compared to other sources this article is not as detailed but gives an overall summary. A new development on the fringe of settled areas often surrounding a deteriorating city.

Among the traits of metropolitan growth frequently associated with sprawl are unlimited outward extension of development; low-density housing and commercial development; leapfrog development, "edge cities," and more recently "edgeless cities"; fragmentation of land use planning among multiple municipalities; reliance on private automobiles for transportation; large fiscal disparities among municipalities; segregation of types of land use; race and class-based exclusionary housing and employment; congestion and environmental damage; and a declining sense of community among area residents.

These uneven patterns of development are rooted in a context of substantial economic restructuring. These spatial and structural changes exacerbate a number of social problems that have long plagued urban communities. Each of these trajectories of change, in turn, feeds back and nurtures the other. During the past five decades, Sprawl can be defined as a pattern of urban and metropolitan growth that reflects low-density, automobile-dependent, exclusionary new development on the fringe of settled areas often surrounding a deteriorating city we are told.

Among the traits of metropolitan growth frequently associated with sprawl are unlimited outward extension of development; low-density housing and commercial development; leapfrog development, "edge cities," and more recently "edgeless cities"; fragmentation of land use planning among multiple municipalities; reliance on private automobiles for transportation; large fiscal disparities among municipalities; segregation of types of land use; race and class-based exclusionary housing and employment; congestion and environmental damage; and a declining sense of community among area residents.

However, these spatial patterns of development are rooted in a context of substantial economic restructuring. Moreover, these spatial and structural changes exacerbate a number of social problems that have long plagued urban communities. Each of these trajectories of change, in turn, feeds back and nurtures the other. (McCann; Ewing, 2003) While measuring the Health Effects of Sprawl, A National Analysis of Physical Activity, Obesity, and Chronic Disease was written by Barbara A. McCann and Reid Ewing. Additional data analysis was provided by Michelle Ernst, Linda Bailey, and John Pucher.

The sprawl index used in this study was developed with assistance from Rolf Pendall of Cornell University and John Ottensmann of Indiana University. The health effects were studied to find the impact that urban sprawl had caused on areas. During a 20-year period, the one hundred biggest urbanized areas sprawled out over an additional 14,545 square miles and that was more than 9 million acres of natural habitats, farmland and other rural space that were covered over by the asphalt, buildings and sub-divisions of suburbia.

That was just for the half of Americans who live in those one hundred cities. Poorly planned development threatens our environment, our health, and our quality of life in numerous ways. Sprawl spreads development out over large amounts of land; puts long distances between homes, stores, and job centers; and makes people more and more dependent on driving in their daily lives. Sprawl pollutes our air and water.

As reliance on cars and pavement of more and more roads increases, so does smog and pollution from water runoff. Today, more than half all Americans live in areas where the air is unsafe to breathe. Sprawl destroys more than two million acres of parks, farms and open space each year. Sprawl increases traffic on our neighborhood streets and highways. Sprawl lengthens trips and forces us to drive everywhere. The average American driver currently spends the equivalent of 55 eight-hour workdays behind the wheel every year.Sprawl wastes tax money. It pulls economic resources away from existing communities and spreads them out over sparse developments far away from the core. Taxes subsidize millions of dollars worth of new roads, new water and sewer lines, new schools and increased police and fire protection at the expense of the needs of the core communities. This leads to degradation of our older towns and cities and higher taxes.