The Problems with Urban Sprawl

It has been argued that urban sprawl is the root of many environmental problems. Today, I am offering my viewpoint on this issue and reasons to support my position. What is urban sprawl? Urban sprawl is defined as "the increased use of urbanized land by fewer people than in the past" (CWAC, n.d.). In the past, cities were compact and efficient but recently the density of land utilized per person has seen a major decline in the United States. From 1982-1997, the United States population had grown by about 17 percent, while the urbanized land had increased by about 47 percent during the same period in time (CWAC, n.d.). Developed land per person has just about doubled in the last two decades and the sizes of housing lots larger than ten acres can account for over half of the land that was developed since 1994 (CWAC, n.d.). This drastic change in urbanized areas has been met by both environmental impacts, as well as financial and time burdens on the people.

One of the most affected environments would be America's farmlands. Farmlands are being lost due to the creation of new highways, fringe industrial parks, and new sprawled housing developments (CWAC, n.d.). The loss of farmlands reduces our ability to produce food, fiber, and timber. Further, the higher tax rates and costs that are associated with urban sprawl are forcing many farmers to close down business and sell their farms to companies seeking to develop new housing areas, as a means to secure their financial security (CWAC, n.d.). This problem has highly affected the state of Wisconsin. In 1950, Wisconsin had roughly about 23.6 million acres of farmland and as of 2002 only had about 16 million acres. Along with this reduction in farmland area, the number of farms in Wisconsin decreased from 178,000 to 77,000 from 1910 to 2002 (CWAC, n.d.). This decrease in farmland is not only seen in Wisconsin but also the rest of the country. Between 1992 and 1997, the nation converted more than 13.7 million acres of farmland to urbanized areas (CWAC, n.d.).