2 ms·

Can you explain what was destructive about sprawling outwards?

• closeparen 9y ago
  Sure. Cars kill about 40,000 people directly through collisions, and many more through the environmental toxicity of tailpipe emissions, before we even consider climate change. A built environment where cars are far and away the best option for getting around exacerbates these problems. More sprawl generates more traffic, meaning cars need to run and produce emissions for even longer to go the same distances. Infrastructure like water and sewer is naturally cheaper at higher population densities. Low density municipalities are finding they don't have be tax revenue to maintain what they've built. Then there's the environmental destruction inherent in clearing literal green fields for greenfield construction projects. Then there's the social decay and public health crises like opiate addiction that come when a town built around a small collection of employers loses one or several of its major employers. People don't want to leave these places because they have family ties, so dysfunction festers and enters negative feedback loops. In cities, the same people could stand a chance of obtaining other jobs while still in proximity to their families, and benefit from government services will funded by the industries that didn't evaporate.