sprawl

So whatcha whatcha whatcha want?

In the U.S., as with many other places, the industrial era saw a massive exodus from rural areas into cities.  The "information era" (or whatever buzzword you like) has seen a massive exodus from cities to suburbs and exurbs, with long commutes to work, sprawling colonies of large homes, strip malls, and cars, cars, cars.  Now, the mere fact of such a large exodus would seem to indicate that Americans prefer such a lifestyle (despite the fact that it may be killing them.)

But according to a new survey conducted by Smart Growth America in conjunction with the National Association of Realtors, it is not so.

Sprawl the Right Moves

Urban Planner Seeks New Vocabulary to Describe Sprawl Delores Hayden, a Yale professor of architecture, urbanism, and American studies, found herself struggling when she tried to describe the characteristic features of the sprawling suburbs surrounding American cities — features that are now ubiquitous but which have emerged so quickly, historically speaking, that our ability to […]

I Double Dare Ya

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market think tank not known as a particular favorite of enviros, issued a debate challenge to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change last week. In a letter published as an ad in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, CEI Distinguished Fellow Jack Kemp, a one-time vice presidential candidate, congressman, […]

Jesse Ventura wants to ride light rail

PR professionals the world over must be scratching their heads at the sudden surge of interest in sprawl. The topic has all the sex appeal of a zoning meeting or a traffic jam — being about zoning meetings and traffic jams — and its number-one spokesperson is V. (as in vanilla) P. Al Gore. The […]