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For many people sprawl is hard to define, but easy to identify. Even for those well-versed in sprawlology, it can be difficult to say that one development contributes to sprawl and another is a positive contribution to the community.

It can be useful to distinguish between two important dimensions that combine to create sprawl: density and design.

Density in its most simple sense is how closely buildings are built together.  Density standards are most frequently applied to residential developments, where it is measured in units (or residences) per acre. In recent years, new development in the Twin Cities has had a net (i.e. excluding wetlands and parks) average density of 2.1 units per acre. The Met Council has defined a density goal of 3.0 units per acre in their Regional Growth Strategy. Compare this to the 3.49 units per acre average density in fashionable Edina. Even more dramatic, consider the 35 units per acre average density in the city of San Francisco, where housing demand is as high as any other city in the U.S..

For some people, high densities mean high crime and unsafe neighborhoods.  However, statistics indicate otherwise, and urban scholar Jane Jacobs argues that dense neighborhoods are actually safer, because neighbors are more aware of unusual activity around other houses.

An important thing to remember about density is that there are two different standards. In neighborhoods served by urban services, like sewer and water lines, densities can (and should) be quite high. A 1995 study by Minnesota Planning indicated that costs for installing these urban services (exclusive of annual maintenance) average $150 per linear foot of a lot’s frontage. Therefore, narrower, higher density lots are much less expensive to service than larger, wider, low-density lots.

In rural districts, those not served by sewers and water lines, densities should be much lower. While state regulations allow for lots as small as one acre to be served by septic systems, this sort of density increases the impact that the septic wastewater will have on the water table. In general, 1000 Friends of Minnesota advocates for maximum densities of at least one unit per 20, 40 or 80 acres in areas not served by urban services, depending on local conditions. In agricultural areas outside the Twin Cities region, even lower densities are often preferable.

These low densities in rural areas accomplish a number of goals:  

·         They protect agricultural economies by not artificially increasing the value of farmland based on the ability to subdivide.  

·         They protect natural habitat by keeping it intact. Smaller lots, anything from one to ten acres, don’t protect natural habitat because the relatively closely spaced buildings, the associated landscape changes, and the presence of domestic pets break up wildlife movement and foraging areas. 

·         They protect water quality by keeping septic systems spaced far apart. 

·         They allow a tract of land to be developed at urban densities when and if urban services do reach the area. Developing large-lot housing in unsewered areas may require a very expensive routing of urban services around those large lots at a later time.

Design is a second critical component of sprawl. While density determines how many houses are placed within a certain area, design determines what those houses look like and how they fit together with each other and with the surrounding community. In recent decades, design has been dominated by the principle of strict separation of uses through zoning. This is why so many newly developed suburban cities consist of row upon row of nearly identical houses, with distant strip malls, office towers, and parks. Zoning was originally intended to separate people from nuisances and threats like smoking factories and land-fills, but has evolved into a tool that reinforces the sense of isolation found in many newer developed areas.

Some planners and architects have begun to rethink the design of communities. Much of this rethinking revolves around updating design concepts of the past, when cars were not dominant and people needed to be able to move between home, services, work and recreational areas more easily and without relying on roads. These new principles attempt to mimic the look and feel of well-established urban neighborhoods in European and older U.S. cities.

In addition to providing a more attractive urban environment, these design principles also tend to create stronger communities. Instead of isolating people in their homes and requiring them to use a car in conducting the most routine daily tasks, these communities encourage walking; they shift the focus of the home from the television room or fenced back-yard, to the front porch; and they create a neighborhood feel by placing services, work places and recreational areas within close proximity. All of these dynamics bring neighbors into frequent contact with one another, so relationships are more likely to be created and maintained with the folks next door.

Some of the common elements to these new design principles include:

·         Mixing land uses so that the corner market and town square replace the strip mall and big-box retail.

·         Housing that accommodates people of different incomes and ages in the same neighborhoods.

·         Human scale architecture that reveals attractive features to the pedestrian.

·         An emphasis on pedestrian needs for movement between residence, employment, services and recreation.

·         Inviting green spaces integrated throughout the community.

·         Higher densities that make transit alternatives viable.

Sierra Club Fact Sheet on Sprawl

The Sierra Club has a lengthy fact sheet on sprawl at their web site.
[click here to go to the Sierra Club]  They list 6 major injuries to us and our environment caused by sprawl.

• Sprawl increases traffic on our neighborhood streets and highways

• Sprawl pollutes our air and water

• Sprawl worsens the damage from killer floods

• Sprawl destroys parks, farms, and open space

• Sprawl wastes our tax money

• Sprawl crowds our children's schools

The Sierra Club can point to only one solution to sprawl -- "Smart Growth," the fact sheet says, "provides a range of solutions to the problem of sprawl.  Smart Growth means planning our communities so that our streets will be safer, our neighborhoods will be nicer places to live, our air and water will be less polluted, and our parks, farms and open space will be protected."