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Urban sprawl claims thousands of acres of open land every year. Suburban housing developments stretch as far as the eye can see, with two cars or more in every garage and miles of streets funneling them to huge main thoroughfares.

Grocery stores and strip malls line those roads, set behind enormous parking lots that sit mostly empty. Chain stores and fast food restaurants predominate, and you can't tell the difference between one town and the next. Urban sprawl requires that gas stations await at every fourth intersection.

No one walks on these streets. Children do not ride their bicycles to the store because the suburban sprawl has pushed it so far away and put it on such a busy street. Neighbors don't get to know each other because they have to spend their time driving to and fro.

Bus and other transit services languish in the land of urban sprawl. Communities cannot create efficient routes with convenient stops because everyone lives so far apart. People can't be bothered to walk ten blocks to the bus stop and wait when they can just hop in their cars and drive on their own schedule. Their homes lie so far from their jobs that even driving alone takes an hour.

Because so many people have sprawled out from employment centers, roads become jammed with traffic. Larger highways spread over the little green space left, lined with sound-dampening walls to protect the earlier sprawl. More roads encourage the suburbs to move further out, and the cycle begins again.

Cities cannot afford to maintain sewers, water mains, and roads while building new services out the the far-flung urban sprawl. Older infrastructure deteriorates and receives attention only when it collapses. Leaders must pave their money into serving the people who seek the green lawns and isolation of the suburbs.

Certainly, people should be free to choose their lifestyles. But one should consider the effect one's choices have on the world at large. Consider choosing to live in a neighborhood where one may can walk to work, stores, and parks rather than driving to the gym. Look for a place where schools and churches are mixed in among the homes, where development rises rather than spreads. Your health and that of your city and the planet will improve.

Urban sprawl hurts people and the environment on many levels. The resources of the community get spread thin and no significant improvements can be made when the population spreads farther out each year. Learning why and educating others can help reduce sprawl and concentrate resources in ways that can benefit everyone.

Learn more about this author, Mel Bergen.
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