What is the Post-Sprawl Era: an Explanation
Entering the Post-Sprawl Era
The latest research and thinking regarding urban sprawl - coming from many different quarters -has converged on a new understanding best described as "post sprawl."
One point of agreement is the difficulty in defining the concept or fact of urban sprawl. As we press for more specific definitions and remedies, much is being learned. Sprawl is in the mind of the beholder and is created by multiple attributes of urban form: density, clustering, visual monotony, social functionality, and more. As we progress beyond the vagueness of "sprawl" we enter a more pragmatic, post-sprawl era.
A second point researchers have converged on is that sprawl is not tied to density as directly as we thought. Some high density places look sprawled, and vice versa. The surprising finding reported by many, that the Los Angeles region has higher average population density than the New York region, highlights this discovery. (In general, the cities in the west are shown by William Fulton, Robert Lang, and other researchers to be more densely built and populated than those of the east.) Yet everyone would still judge Los Angeles as more sprawled than New York, and so average density cannot be the defining element of sprawl. In the post-sprawl era, we recognize the need to build better places, not just ones that are quantitatively denser.
A special challenge applying in California is that the state is adding 15 million residents between 1990 and 2020. In this 30 year period, the state's population is projected to expand from 30 to 45 million people. Florida, at 15 million residents in 2000, is the fourth largest in the nation. The amount of growth expected in California is equivalent to adding the entire state of Florida on top of California in just 30 years. What kind of urban form will be required to maintain livability is a prime concern when planning the post-sprawl era. How can we make density a positive contributor to the quality of life?
In the post-sprawl era planners consider lessons for future development that reach beyond sprawl. Our common goal is to enhance future livability. This requires more deliberate consideration about desired urban form than we have afforded in the past. Not in several decades or longer has so much public attention been directed to the work of urban planners. Even if developers, elected officials and many others contribute to urban growth patterns, it is urban planners who the public hold responsible. On November 30, 2001, leading researchers and practitioners will come together to consider the lessons of research on sprawl and to take up the challenges of the post-sprawl era.