Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Sprawl

Wowza: Scale Maps of Barcelona and Atlanta Show the Waste of Sprawl

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 3, 2014 | 58 Comments

This graphic was created by Alain Bertaud, a senior researcher at NYU’s Stern Urbanization Project. He was formerly principal urban planner for the World Bank. Part of his work has focused on comparing densities of world cities. In this stunning comparison of metro Atlanta and Barcelona, you can see that the two regions have almost the […]

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Race, Sprawl, and Car Culture

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 25, 2014 | 7 Comments

Atlantic Senior Editor Ta-Nehisi Coates was in Cleveland last week talking about his acclaimed long-form article, “The Case for Reparations,” which reviews the history of economic and social oppression of African Americans. I got to attend the talk, and late in his speech Coates made a few points that touch on the subjects we cover […]

Moving Cars vs. Investing in Places — The Struggle for American Cities

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 9, 2014 | 13 Comments

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker and Mayor Tom Barrett are brawling in the press over a proposed highway project — a fight that exemplifies the enormous rift in America about what transportation policy should accomplish. Walker still thinks about transportation projects the same way the interstate planners of the 1950s thought about them. In […]

Will This Be the Decade of Big City Growth?

By William H. Frey | May 29, 2014 | 2 Comments

William H. Frey is an internationally regarded demographer and senior fellow with the Brookings Institution. This article was originally posted by the Brookings Institution. Figure 1: Large City Growth* For the first third of this decade, big city population growth continues to outpace the rates of 2000 through 2010 while suburban growth continues to lag behind, according to new […]

Sprawl Madness Redux: Driving 17 Miles to Go 500 Feet in Phoenix

By Tanya Snyder | May 20, 2014 | 14 Comments

Last year, Angie posted an unfortunate map of two houses in Orlando that share a backyard but are seven miles apart if you take the disconnected local street system. That’s quite a distance to ask your neighbor for a cup of sugar. Well, reader Sean Horan just sent this mind-blowing sequel: two houses in Phoenix, […]

Book Excerpt: “Dead End,” a Look at Sprawl and the Rebirth of Urbanism

By Ben Ross | Apr 22, 2014 | No Comments

“Dead End: Suburban Sprawl and the Rebirth of American Urbanism” is a new book by Ben Ross, longtime president of Maryland’s Action Committee for Transit and a frequent contributor to Greater Greater Washington. This excerpt is preceded by a section describing the post-war expansion into the suburbs and the surrender of public space to automobile traffic. Highways […]

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