What Is Urban Sprawl?

Urban sprawl caused the increase of physical and environmental footprints of many cities all over the world, some of them having a significant increase in a very short time. This, however, leads to the decrease and destruction of natural wildlife habitats and farmland. The trend of urban sprawl first started in the US after the end of world war II. The increase in manufacturing output and new federal programs in America had made it possible for many people to buy new houses and cars. The interstate highway system in America was also being built around the same time which was another factor towards the start of the urban sprawl trend. Infrastructure developments also made it possible to build newer homes on the farmland that was not accessible before. Urban sprawl has decreased a lot of inner city dwellings since most people moved into the new suburbs to enjoy a better and more spacious lifestyle. People in the inner city also moved to the suburbs to escape from the crowd, traffic …show more content…
By putting a physical boundary on the land and limiting growth through a restricting sense, valuable green spaces can be preserved. This could also be more probable in developed nations, as environmental protection is a much more popular trend and concept in these countries than in less developed ones. This is also a more suitable mechanism to be applied in countries with remaining open green spaces that could be protected. This would most likely point to countries that are physically larger and have a lower human to land ratio, such that less residents would have to be displaced due to its implementation. However, introducing UBGs in less developed nations could familiarize and promote the concept of environmental protection, which could lead to the sprouting of innovative ideas that would further propel the mechanism’s intended