Ellen Dunham-Jones's Essay 'Seventy-Five Percent'

For those only weakly committed to city living, particularly middle-class people who have serious difficulty with social diversity and who have clear housing alternatives, the "problem-free" suburbs become tempting. After an incident such as a car break-in or a bicycle theft, a "last straw" can make them leave. (249)

The gentrification process can be seen through the demographic and physical changes of the South Parkdale neighborhood. Gentrification is “the invasion of working-class areas by the upper- and middle-classes, who upgrade shabby, modest housing into elegant residences, resulting in the displacement of all, or most of the original working-class occupiers”. (Lyons, 1996) South Parkdale is a neighborhood in downtown Toronto that faces problems of gentrification. This problem has been ongoing since the nineteen fifty’s’.

During the past few years, gentrification has been on an uprise.“Nearly 20 percent of neighborhoods with lower incomes and home values have experienced gentrification since 2000, compared to only 9 percent during the 1990s.” Gentrification is happening in areas that supposedly need a change, such as the low-income neighborhoods in New York City, Minneapolis, Seattle and Washington, D.C.Factors such as uniqueness, accessibility, the energy of the neighborhood and reasonably priced homes attract gentrifiers. It has altered many cities in the country. Gentrification can be defined as the procedure of reestablishment and remaking due to the flood of prosperous individuals into falling apart and low-income areas that frequently displaces poorer

Urban sprawl was a major problem and had many negative effects. "Suburban sprawl, “called urban sprawl was a result of overpopulation. Sprawl occurred when cities spread outward. Forests and farmland were being destroyed to create new housing subdivisions, shopping centers, offices, parking areas, civic institutions and roadways. State governments built highways and roads to serve all the new commuters moving in and out of the city. Developers chose to build on less expensive land farther away from the urban core. Land prices were lower and housing in these developments was more affordable. Some people chose a longer commute in exchange for more comfortable, low-priced housing. The sprawl was a chronological process that devastated the land and life of the American people. This problem described here continues to be a problem. And many people are unaware that urban sprawl continues to be a problem. Friendly neighborhoods, traditional pedestrian have fallen victim to this problem. Environmental activists claimed that urban sprawl, was a substantial environmental threat. But activists concerned about sprawl should concentrate on existing government policies that encourage suburban development and prevent greater redevelopment of urban areas.

Housing was a necessity many Americans wanted, “During the 1950s, for example, suburbs grew at a rate ten times faster than that of central cities, while the nation’s suburban population jumped from 35.1 to 75.6 million between 1950 and 1970” (Avila 4). The main problem

What comes to mind when you think of terms like: suburbia, urban sprawl, NIMBY, sustainability? We will discuss some of them in further detail, but one thing is for certain, these are all concepts that will effect every single American Citizen in the near future; if they do not already. The documentary Suburban America: Problems & Promises explores some of the intricacies and roles that suburban development has played in the past and gives us insight as to what might be see moving forward in to the future. This fascinating documentary is just shy of one hour, but it covers a surprising amount of ground in that time.

In Robert Bruegmann article “How Sprawl Got a Bad Name,” he is the odd man out and is for sprawling. One of his reasons throughout is that all the architectures plan for preventing the problem has failed. Bruegmann shows his argument that the economy has these set of expectations for today’s society. The citizens are not really thinking realistically when it comes to those modern expectations. He backs up his point by stating a big crisis of traffic in Los Angeles and how it is not the congestion it is that the programs sit in place are outdated. One of the more convincing reasons of why Bruegmann is supporting sprawl is “that growing numbers of people have discovered that it is the surest way to obtain the rich, satisfying

This paper is a review of past and current research based on the cause and effect of urban sprawl in the United States with a case analysis of Fairfax County, Virginia. The motivation for this review is to shed light on issues that surround urban sprawl in large metropolitan areas and to discuss recommendations for research and ways to improve various effects of sprawl. The second motivation for this research is to show that there needs to be uniformity among researchers and urban planners, better data and analysis should be done to combat sprawl. My goal with this literature review is to define urban sprawl, define classic patterns in the United States, how we measure sprawl, the cause and effect of sprawl in the United States, give detailed background information on Fairfax County, future trends and implications of sprawl in Fairfax County, how to combat sprawl in the United States as well as in Fairfax County and key priorities in future research.

Gentrification was major in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Some saw this as a positive since its focus was to rediscover inner-city neighborhoods, often referred to as the back-to-the-city movement (Levine, 2015). These neighborhoods were mainly homes of middle class or affluent people. This occurs “when young professionals—especially singles and childless couples—place new value on city living” (Levine, 2015).

The american suburbs are a valuable community for families. Some would debate that they are the best place to raise a family. They can provide a safe, loving, and nourishing place for a child to grow up. On the other hand they provide a sheltered, unexposed, place to grow up. Suburbs are places with community and family and are a very important part of today's society and culture. Although suburbs seems like such a great place to live their are still so many problems within them and a huge lack of true christianity.

Over the past 20 years the 100 largest US urbanized areas have sprawled an additional 14,545 square miles according to the US Bureau of Census on Urbanized Areas. That was more than 9 million acres of natural habitats, farmland and other rural space that were covered over by asphalt, buildings and housing of suburbia. A major controversy in the efforts to halt the rural land loss is whether land-use and consumption decisions are the primary engines of urban sprawl, or whether it is the nation’s growing population boom that is providing the driving expansion. A good example of this rapid sprawl is the city of Chicago. It has had astonishing growth in the past years bringing about

Savitch outlines ways that sprawl can be harmful to the health and wellbeing of individuals living in these areas. The United States is vast and versatile, allowing for its inhabitants to move around and live in different climates or social environments. But, this freedom leads to the abandonment of neighborhoods and cities. Government resources such as building highways are put into developing cities but “Americans are incline to abandon industrial neighborhoods, sometimes leaving whole cities in favor of sprawl residential tracts, edge cities, and strip-zoned highways” (Savitch 2013:591). Those who can afford to move into suburbs leaves those of a lower socioeconomic status with less resources. “When people and jobs evaporate, so too does

Suburbia: the go-to place for spreading out because of being a bit too cramped in the 700 square foot conurbation apartment. Haphazardly, the suburbs are a place to get away from the staunching garbage and the loud noises; but more importantly, they lack the people. Instead, the suburbs are about having that starter home, with the white picket fence, next to that cul-de-sac, in a crime-free neighborhood and within proximity of the school the child will be attending. Marry young, have daughter and son, grow old, and live happily ever after; the American Dream.

In a recent article that I read, the issue of Urban sprawl was brought to bare. The article argued that urban sprawl is the reason for many ecological issues, and I tend to agree. This issue is very controversial as it makes economic improvement and accordingly framework advancement conceivably a negative thing, and therefore numerous organizations are attempting to claim that Urban sprawl is not an issue. Along these lines, I have investigated this topic further to investigate whether urban sprawl is undoubtedly as terrible as the original article states.

An emerging issue is that of urban sprawl. While some aspects of urban sprawl has been seen since ancient times, this phenomenon has started gaining the most momentum in the past century, aided by the advancement of technology, especially with the rise of mass produced automobiles, houses and highway systems. Many people unknowingly contribute to this environmental problem, as is the nature of it. Urban sprawl deals with the growth of the suburbs, the area between the urban and rural areas of a city. Most of America’s largest cities and states, in terms of population, are prime examples of urban sprawl. Opponents of urban sprawl usually cite the government as a major cause of sprawl. The government may be a major catalyst of