Urban sprawl facts for kids

Urban Sprawl in the north of London

Urban sprawl is the name of a city growing in areas which have been unpopulated so far. This growth happens once the city has reached a certain size. In general, this growth also happens without regard for the planned growth, called urban planning. In the Middle Ages, there was the benefit of being protected when people lived inside the city. In modern times, there is no such benefit, and the only disadvantage is that it takes longer for people to get to the city center. People disagree about the exact definition of urban sprawl and how to measure it.

The term urban sprawl is a political one, and almost always has a negative connotation (usually that of the uncontrolled growth of a city).

Images for kids

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  Measures for urban sprawl in Europe: upper left the Dispersion of the built-up area (DIS), upper right the weighted urban proliferation (WUP)

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  This picture shows the metropolitan areas of the Northeast Megalopolis of the United States demonstrating urban sprawl, including far-flung suburbs and exurbs illuminated at night.

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  Traffic congestion in sprawling São Paulo, Brazil, which, according to Time magazine, has the world's worst traffic jams.

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  Low-density housing placed between large farms in an exurban poor-planned community in Tennessee

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  Sprawl in Milton, Ontario. This photograph is an example of Canadian exurban development, though recently attempts are made to reduce this type of development in many major cities.

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  Clustered commercial strips like this one in Breezewood, Pennsylvania are common in outer rural exurbs and suburbs in metropolitan areas.

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  Walmart Supercenter in Luray, Virginia.

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  The urban sprawl of Melbourne.

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  The Chicago metro area, nicknamed "Chicagoland".

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  A majority of Californians live, commute, and work in the vast and extensive web of Southern California freeways.

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  Many Canadian cities feature numerous pockets of high density throughout even their most distant suburbs. As a result, some Canadian suburbs have skylines that rival large American cities. Pictured is Burnaby, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver.