ABSTRA CT: Suburban sprawl has often been identified as low-density and dispersed development hat requires greater automobile vehicle miles to be traveled for daily activities thereby resulting in problematic environmental and social impacts. This paper attempts to empirically test one of the spatial characteristics of sprawl by measuring the actual road distance of residential housing units to...

Increasing housing density is generally assumed to confer negative effects on forest breeding birds. This implies we should build at low density over the landscape to conserve these species. However, for a given human population, low-density development must cover a large area, resulting in sprawl. A pertinent question is then: at what housing density are the impacts of a given human population...

The urban heat island effect, the phenomenon in which a city has higher temperatures than surrounding countryside, is known to contribute to higher rates of heat-related mortality in summer months when temperatures soar. Although extreme heat events have become more common in large U.S. cities, a new study indicates that sprawling cities experience more than double the rate of extreme heat even...

Sprawling development can affect species composition by increasing the rate of invasion by non-native species, and decreasing the persistence of native species. This paper briefly reviews the scientific literature on the impacts of sprawl on biological diversity, with specific emphasis on the influence of sprawl on non-native species richness. We then explore the relationship between sprawl and...

Increasing housing density has negative effects on native biodiversity. This implies that we should build at low density to conserve native species. However, for a given human population, low-density development must cover a large area, resulting in sprawl. A pertinent question is then, at what housing density are the impacts of a given human population on native biodiversity minimized? We addr...

PURPOSE To determine the relationship between urban sprawl, health, and health-related behaviors. DESIGN Cross-sectional analysis using hierarchical modeling to relate characteristics of individuals and places to levels of physical activity, obesity, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. SETTING U.S. counties (448) and metropolitan areas (83). SUBJECTS...

t potential environm impacts. Many of the consuming land faster th tions are growing, pushing t urban and suburban pollution fa rural corridors. Chicago and Los An for example, have over the last 20 yea increased their land area more than 10 times faster than their populations. In a particularly striking example of sprawl, Phoenix, Arizona, is encroaching upon the desert at a rate of one acre p...