Impact of Urban Sprawl to the Environment - Term Paper Example

Impact of Urban Sprawl to the Environment Introduction Urban sprawl is defined as the continued expansion of towns and cities into traditional human populations within the remote areas leading to an increase in the demand for a more reliable transport network. As part of community planning, urban sprawl has become a major issue in various parts of the developed countries, including the United States and Canada. The contagious expansion of large and small cities into suburban or rural areas has become a major environmental concern in different parts of the world. Though planners and developers view the emergence of urban sprawl as development aimed at increasing the availability of residential and commercial areas for the city residents, this concept has significant implications on the environment. Through urban sprawls, the number of commercial and transport vehicles have skyrocketed, increasing the level of greenhouse gas emission. Waste from residential and commercial facilities has also increased the pressure on the ecosystem to recycle them, thus affecting the natural stability of the environment. Migration and urban sprawl is not a challenge of the 21st century, as it has existed over the years, affecting major towns and cities in developed nations. Most cities and their suburbs have continued to feel the pressure of an increase in population and the number of personal and commercial vehicles. Overcrowding and pollution is a common situation in most cities today due to migration and the uncontrolled urban sprawl. This paper will demonstrate that an increase in urban sprawl is responsible for the high environmental pollution, which can be attributed to the high number of vehicles within the suburb cities and towns. History of urban sprawl The first existence of a city resulted in what is today known as urban sprawl as it led to the invasion of neighborhoods that knew no traffic jams or high population of vehicles. The tendency to move out of cities into new settlement areas has always existed as long as the population of the major cities increased (Cabral 5225). An increase in the population of the established cities results in the need to expand the boundaries of such cities in order to accommodate more people without affecting the comfort of the occupants (Cabral 5226). In the beginning of the Christian era, some parts of the world experienced the first ever documented case of urban sprawl as the population increased and the need for more houses arose. As witnessed today in the form of slums, urban sprawl during the early centuries led to an increase in very rick and very poor urban occupants. As the rich population acquired land that was initially in the rural parts of the cities, the original occupants were pushed to other parts of the city where they lived in deplorable and crowded conditions (Hargreaves 13). Apart from the early expansion of these regions, other major cities and metropolitans across the world experienced the challenge of emerging urban sprawls during the early phases of industrialization and development. Causes of urban sprawl Before evaluating the implication of urban sprawl on the environment, there is need to understand how the menace arose within major developed countries in the world. A variety of reasons have been identified that are responsible for urban sprawl beyond the traditional urban migration that was initially associated with the vice. Reducing the land rates in suburb area and other metropolitan parts of the cities lowers the cost of buying land and the construction of both residential and commercial houses in these areas (Hargreaves 13). This encourages a majority of developers to flock to these metropolitan areas and begin commercial and residential development, hoping to reap big from the low land rates. The high cost of land rates within the centers of development and cities has pushed up the cost of buying or renting houses (Hiller, Melotte and Hiller 164). Commercial buildings have also faced a major increase in the price as the land rates costs are all placed on the land users, thus affecting business performance. To bypass this challenge, most private and government developers have moved to suburbs to construct low cost housing and commercial units to meet the high demand from people unwilling to stay within the cities. With increased housing facilities out of the major towns, the demand for improved infrastructure has increased significantly, as the working class begins to settle out of the cities. As a result, the local and central governments increase their spending on major infrastructure such as roads and electricity to meet the needs of the new homeowners. This is considered as a new situation within areas that were originally ignored as far infrastructural development is concerned due to the low population (Suditu 74). Increasing infrastructural development within the suburbs increases the demand for housing and commercial units within this area, further increasing the number of vehicle users within areas that were initially reliant on the public transport network. An improvement in the living standards of most people within towns and cities has also been associated with an increase in urban sprawl especially in developing economies. With increase in employment opportunities, most suburb occupants have acquired an improved purchasing power, placing at a better position to buy homes within their locality (Burge 240). A rise in the living standards also enables such residents to afford the high costs of regular travels, thus increasing the number of vehicles within the roads. This increases the level of air pollution arising from fuel consumption by the high number of vehicles within the roads in areas that initially witnessed low vehicle population. General effects of urban sprawl Urban sprawl has different consequences on the environment, the neighboring society and the pressure on the local and central governments as well. With an increase in the expansion of cities and towns into normal settlements, the level of public expenditure and cost is pushed up. The need for infrastructural development increases the level of taxation, which must be paid by the locals of the cities in order to support their social amenity needs. As the focus of this paper, an increase in urban sprawl is responsible for an expansion in the level of traffic and demand for vehicles within such cities (Hortas-Rico 855). An increase in the population within the suburbs increase the population of car owners and public transport users as the infrastructure is significantly improved. This increases the level of traffic within such regions, increasing the level of air and land pollution, one of the major negative consequences of urban sprawl. Infrastructural development motivated by the high human and cat population within the suburban regions also has significant implications on the health of the occupants. Well-maintained road networks encourage the use of vehicles, even within short distances, thus affecting access to personal exercise and increasing incidences of overweight and related ailments such as high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes. Urban sprawls are also responsible for a number of environmental issues associated with the high level of construction activities, high vehicle usage and poor waste management approaches. Before the emergence of cities in these regions, various game animals were initially found in such places due to the tranquility and serenity of the environments. However, the emergence of various human activities in search of alternative settlements has led to an increase in wild game migration, decline in population or even extinct in rare cases. For example, the San Francisco bay area was once the home of different types of wildlife due to its vast natural landscape and hotspot for biodiversity. Different animals and plant species were found in this area to support university and institutional research, but this changed due to the high level of urban sprawl that was witnessed in the region. Urban sprawl also exerts a negative pressure on the level of water consumption within the regions due to an increase in the human population and construction activities. The need to spread the water distribution channels beyond the traditional regions has reduced the pressure of water delivered in different parts of the suburbs. Research has established that a low-density suburb community consumes more gallons of water as compared to the high-density city population. Most of the homeowners in these regions place high value on landscaping and the development of the right terrain within their homes, further increasing the pressure on water consumption within the cities. Urban sprawl has also been attributed to the high racial and economic disparity in major cities across the world as wealthy and influential members of the society move into segregated suburban regions. Relocation of residents out of the cities also reduce the tax that most of these cities can earn thus leaving the poorest and low tax contributors within the major parts of the city. This leads to major economic disparity and the racial stratification of the cities, providing room for the emergence of various social crimes and decline in sanitation within the main cities. Urban sprawl and the environment The role and place of private automobile in the emergence of urban sprawl has been debated in different environmental forums to illustrate its implications on the environment. The high car ownership in different parts of the developed world has been attributed to the rise of urban sprawl, factors that are believed to be interdependent. Private car ownership increases incidences of suburban settlement and suburban settlement also increase the need for car ownership in order to increase access to economic cities. Most developing countries have been charged for every benefit that they have continued to receive from the developed countries, making it important for every country to account for the benefits that the environment has offered them. The rich countries have had massive benefits from the environment and the richness and developed status has been achieved at the behest of environmental degradation (Stomp 511). Though the impacts that their activities had on the environment were not intentional, the benefits that these unintended acts produced had massive impacts on their economic growth. Other people cannot therefore be held liable for the impacts they did not benefit from whether the destruction was intentional or not. Their current activities and emissions should therefore be weighed and the cost of mitigation imposed upon them based on these emissions. These arguments may seem valid and fair, but the impacts that the historic activities caused to the environment cannot be corrected through forgiving their lack of knowledge (Suditu 74). In the case United States produced over 300 thousand metric tons of CO2, fairness demands that they mitigate the impacts of this emission by the development progress that they have continued to achieve. Carbon dioxide also takes longer in the atmosphere after emission and the climate change in the world today associated with global warming is as a result of the activities the countries engaged in several years ago (Hargreaves 13). Citizens of these countries should therefore accept the responsibility of mitigating climate change as their ancestors prepared the way for their personal growth through stronger economies at the expense of environmental conservation While the level of standards and infrastructure increase, one thing that remains unattended to is the need for a proper urban planning to ensure that development does not happen haphazardly. However, this is never the situation as entry into the suburbs occurs in a non-coordinated manner, leaving no room for proper urban planning for such areas. This encourages the emergence of a non-planned urban sprawl in which the road networks are only developed to ensure that the access to the residential and commercial facilities is enhanced (Hortas-Rico 857). This situation increases the level of stress placed on the environment as no proper waste disposal approaches are developed and the strain on the environment is doubled. An increase in the population of major cities across the world has also been associated with the high levels of uncontrolled urban sprawls in most developed countries. When the population of most cities rises, the pressure on the available resources is increased, thus affecting their ability to successfully serve the initial population for which they are constructed. When such challenges arise, local and central governments initiate projects aimed at decongesting the cities and reducing the strains on the available social facilities (Lv, Fu-qiang and Cheng 6440). This result into more forays into areas that were initially unoccupied within the vicinity of the cities, a contributing factor to high level of population due to the emerging urban sprawl. The preferences of consumers have also been attributed to the emergence of urban sprawls in major towns where the majority are high-income earners. Majority of the rich prefer to live in large homes with numerous bedrooms and larger lawns, most of which cannot be built within the cities due to the economization of the available space. To meet their needs and preferences, developers have resorted towards the construction of residential facilities within the suburbs to meet the huge appetite of most rich people. In most instances, entry into the suburbs is uncontrolled or lack any form of coordination as individuals move out based on their ability to construct or even purchase homes. As a result, homes are built in different parts of the remote areas without any proper plan provided by the central or local government, which can be used to guard against the rise of urban sprawl. This is always lacking in incidences where development occur without coordination and the involvement of infrastructural development personnel to guide the construction patterns within such areas (Hortas-Rico 850). Mitigating the impacts of climate change must also weigh on the ability of a country to bear the costs, a fact that places the developed countries in a better position to address these approaches than the developing countries. Developed countries have higher per capita income attributed to their activities in history, which set the ground for climate change globally. These countries can therefore use these resources to mitigate climate changes as their development status has achieved its maximum threshold. The expertise and the labor available in the developed countries like the United States can be effectively used to fight the ravaging impacts of climate change in the world. Most of these professionals benefited from the economic status of their countries and this enabled them to advance their education from fruits that affected the climate (Stomp 507). Fairness and natural justice make it appropriate for such professionals and other citizens in the country to channel significant resource to climate mitigation measures. Most citizens in the developed countries have opposed this argument, stating that their abilities should not be used to make them cater for global issues. The urban sprawl within America differed considerably with other parts of the world based on the city and out of the city occupants. While most of the rich people occupied the center of the cities and the poor living within the edges, the reverse was witnessed in the northern American states. The rich preferred to live out of the cities, leaving the poor to be the main occupants of the cities, a situation that encouraged urban sprawl as the population of the rich expanded. Though urban sprawl was not given much consideration during the early centuries, it has become a major issue that is discussed in various parts of the society due to the environmental strain it has created. Urban sprawl is no longer a topic to be discussed in boardrooms by city planners as it has been incorporated into school syllabuses to demonstrate its significance. While the early centuries viewed urban sprawl as indicative of industrial and economic development, the situation has changed today as discussion surrounding the topic focus on the impacts it has on the environment (Hargreaves 13). Within the United States, the 70s witnessed major phases of urban sprawls as cities like Atlanta emerged from rural vicinities of other cities in the country. Today, small towns such as Atlanta have continued to consume more acres of developed land as the government and private developers construct residential and commercial units in these cities in anticipation of demand. Uncontained urban sprawl has the potential of turning the country into a purely industrial center as most agricultural land will be converted into towns and cities, leaving no place for farming (Salvati and Carlotta 370). Though pro-sprawl movements see nothing wrong with such a situation, it may significantly affect the food supply in the country and increase the need for fresh food imports into the United States (Burge 238). States in the south with extensive farming land will also be converted into commercial entities, further reducing the country food basket and forcing the government to import basic food products from other countries. Low urban densities within most of the sprawls do not conveniently allow for the development of public transport networks, giving room for more private automobile ownership. Public service vehicles are driven by the economies of scale, preferring to operate in areas with high populations in order to improve demand and increase the profits (Kerrigan, 11). However, most urban sprawls have few occupants and the distance between them to the main city centers is also long making them non-preferable among public transport operators. The long distances between most of the sprawl residences and other social, economic and recreation facility forces most of the occupants to drive as opposed to using public vehicles. This has had significant impacts of the level of greenhouse gas environmental emission as high automobile ownership associated with an increase in the number of vehicle ownership increases the level of environmental pollution. Conclusion Urban sprawl is a controversial topic that has created significant division among environmentalist and homeowners who support the development of private residential areas beyond the confines of the cities. While environmentalists argue that urban sprawl leads to increased pressure on the environment, pro-sprawl lobby groups have fronted the decongestion argument in their pursuit for increased urban sprawls. This paper has demonstrated that uncontrolled urban sprawl result in an increase in the number of automobile owners as few public transport network systems are developed. This increases environmental pressure on the environment as the vehicles contribute towards greenhouse gas emission into the environment. Works Cited Burge, Gregory S., et al. "Can Development Impact Fees Help Mitigate Urban Sprawl?" Journal Of The American Planning Association 79.3 (2013): 235-248. Cabral, Pedro, et al. "Entropy in Urban Systems." Entropy 15.12 (2013): 5223-5236. Hargreaves, Steve. "Understanding Urban Sprawl." Fort worth Business Press 26.13 (2014): 13.  Hiller, B. T., B. J. Melotte, and S. M. Hiller. "Uncontrolled Sprawl or Managed Growth? 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