Urban+Sprawl+Caused+by+Automobiles

Urban sprawl has been an issue created mostly due to the automobile. Automobiles have allowed people and businesses to spread over larger distances with land inter-spaced between them (Melosi, 2010). Overall, the automobile has allowed more people to become spaced out over larger distances. Urban sprawl could be observed positively and negatively, with most arguing the negative impacts of urban sprawl. Urban sprawl is positive because it allows people to have to live in suburbs and have a job in the city (Browning, n.d.). However, the the consequences of urban sprawl are detrimental to the environment and natural resources, such as over consumption, climate change, and air pollution (World Resources Institute, n.d.). A prime example of how urban sprawl can be detrimental to the environment is Mexico City. Mexico City has had several problems with the amount of people and air pollution (World Resources Institute, n.d.). Each day Mexico City has 600 new vehicles the highway system, thus contributing more to traffic congestion and poor air quality (World Resources Institute, n.d).

The history of the transportation, the automobile, and city design need to be observed and considered when discussing urban sprawl. There are three transitional stages of American cities, which include: the walking city, the streetcar city, and the automobile city (Melosi, 2010). During the first stage of American city development cities and towns were closer in proximity with large city squares and short walking distance to work (Melosi, 2010). In the second stage, industrialization lead many cities to be at the core of the city with workers who started to move to the suburbs and commute long distances to work (Melosi, 2010). Thus, during the second stage of American cities the core of the city was still strong, but people moved out of the city and suburbs began to form leading to urban sprawl. Also, the construction of expressways allowed people to become more dependent on cars as well as urban sprawl to increase (Melosi, 2010). The third stage the America city revolved around the automobile. More people were driving cars to work and needed places to park cars, while at work. Parking in busy downtown cities decreased the amount of space on the streets because the number of people parking on the streets increased (Melosi, 2010). Issues with parking lead cities to ban parking on streets and the parking meter was established in 1935 (Melosi, 2010). Additionally, the third stage lead to traffic jams and congestion where roads were widened and made walking less safe (Melosi, 2010).

Due to the increase in the amount of people using vehicles traffic congestion has been a large problem. Older cities designed before the invention of the automobile were prone to congestion with propositions to widen streets, narrow sidewalks, and make city blocks longer (Melosi, 2010).In response to traffic congestion, traffic control was essential. Traffic signs, traffic lights, and traffic police were all reminders to separate vehicles from pedestrian (Melosi, 2010). In the 1920's accidents were relatively common and in 1989 traffic accidents were the fifth leading cause of death (Melosi, 2010). Advances such as seat belts, airbags, speed bumps, and speed limits reduced the number of accidents each year (Melosi, 2010). The first speed limit law created in 1901 was administered in Connecticut and the speed limit was set for 12 miles per hour outside of town and 8 miles per hour in the city (Melosi, 2010).

Similarly, a major reason why cities have sprawled is due to the transportation systems to allow almost unlimited development (Tyler, 2010). Therefore, the process of latent demand, or a principle that states if there is an increase in roads built, which people have access to, then people will drive and use the roads more until the level of road congestion is reached, thus it should be assumed that construction is not a solution to road jams (Tyler, 2010). So, the design of the city is at the center of the problem, not widening turn lanes, street widening, and development of one-way streets.Additionally, the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 started the interstates found throughout the United States and the dependence on the automobile increased (Melosi, 2010). These highways built allowed people to transform land into commercial property and bring people out of urban city core (Melosi, 2010).

There are more people who have joined the workforce compared to 1980 and the number of people who live in the suburbs has increased proportionally with decentralization of a city's core (U.S. Department of Transportation, 2007). Thus, the amount of people living in suburbia has increased, which has lead to an increase in the number of people commuting into the cities. In addition, the increasing amount of people to live in suburbia has lead to longer travel distances and travel times, as well as more money being spent indirectly on transportation, such as fuel and car insurance (World Resources Institute, n.d.).

By looking at the history of transportation, such as the automobile, new methods of design and planning can be done. New Urbanism, which began in the United States about 1980, is the designing of a city to reduce the number of vehicles/traffic and urban sprawl, while increasing the number of pedestrian sidewalks to have closer access to shops and businesses, has been an option for city planning to remodel a city back into a traditional town (Briney, 2010;Craven, 2010). New Urbanism has been a reaction to combat urban sprawl and most city planners and architects have built cities to resemble European towns (Craven, 2010). Smart growth, or city planning that tries to maintain a city or communities growth and to greatly reduce the amount of urban sprawl in a community, has been another solution to try to ease urban sprawl (Wells, 2010). Smart growth looks at how to redevelop were infrastructure is already available for, use, which allows transportation to be needed less because communities are more centralized (Wells, 2010). Additionally, regulations have been put in effect to try and ease urban sprawl. For example, the Intermodal Surface Transportation and Efficient Act for the 21st century, was one step toward cleaner air and more transportation options for people (Sierra Club, 2010). This act allowed people to have more transportation choices, which decreased the amount of vehicle use (Sierra Club, 2010). One specific example was in 1996 in Atalanta, Georgia for the Olympics (Sierra Club, 2010). The use of other modes of transportation reduced the amount of traffic congestion by 22 percent, while having other positive effects like decrease in air pollution and decrease human health concerns, such as asthma (Sierra Club, 2010). Overall, major progressive steps have been taken to decrease dependence on the automobile, decrease urban sprawl, and decease the amount of air pollution, however there is a long way to go. By looking at alternative energy sources to fuel transportation methods there will be less detrimental impacts on the environment with an increased quality of human life.

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