Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Sprawl

Real Estate Giant: Suburban Office Parks Increasingly Obsolete

By Angie Schmitt | Dec 10, 2015 | 23 Comments

What tenants want in an office building is changing, and the old model of the isolated suburban office park is going the way of the fax machine. That’s according to a new report from Newmark, Grubb, Knight and Frank [PDF], one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the world. The old-school office park does “not offer the […]

Study: Sprawling Areas Require 3 Times as Much Pavement Per Person

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 11, 2015 | No Comments

One of the big downsides to sprawl is the public cost of maintaining infrastructure that is extended over wide areas. A new study of New Jersey by Smart Growth America and New Jersey Future [PDF] attempts to quantify this relationship by looking at the amount of space devoted to roads in communities of varying densities. Turns out […]

Braves Stadium Relocation Shaping Up to Be a Disaster

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 30, 2015 | 348 Comments

When the Braves announced they were leaving Atlanta for suburban Cobb County in 2013, logistically it seemed to make some sense. After all, the new stadium site is more centrally located in relation to the highest concentration of fans who attend games. But it turns out that relocating a sports stadium to a sprawling, car-dependent area is […]

Marohn vs. O’Toole: Sizing Up The Great Debate

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 15, 2015 | 3 Comments

Last week, Charles Marohn of Strong Towns went head to head with “antiplanner” Randall O’Toole in Lafayette, Louisiana. The debate was billed as an event to help the city with its regional planning process and was broadcast over local radio. Watching O’Toole make up arguments out of whole cloth, however, you have to wonder if giving him […]

Calculating the Big Impact of Sprawl on Cities’ Bottom Line

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 8, 2015 | 5 Comments

When someone builds a new home, does it make the city stronger and more fiscally sound? Or does it drain public resources? The answer depends a lot on where it’s sited and, more specifically, where it lies in relation to other homes and businesses. Smart Growth America has developed a fiscal impact model that helps predict how developments […]

Study: Annual Cost of Sprawl in America Adds Up to $4,500 Per Person

By Angie Schmitt | Mar 24, 2015 | 11 Comments

A new study confirms what we already know too well: Sprawl is expensive. The New Climate Economy’s latest report [PDF] attempts to put a figure on it and it’s pretty staggering: more than $1 trillion a year nationwide. That figure accounts for higher costs to individuals and communities associated with sprawling development patterns, including transportation infrastructure, less […]

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