Impacts of Urbanization

It is estimated that 83% of US citizens live in urban areas (University of Michigan, 2023). American metropolis’ spread culture and technology, changing lives across the globe.  Rapid urbanization is visualized best in areas like Georgetown, Texas, which experienced a 14.4% increase in population between 2018 and 2022 (Large Southern Cities Lead Nation in Population Growth, 2023).  Numbers are not everything though, nearby Austin, Texas, is America's 10th largest city but only houses 3,006 people per square mile (Austin City, Texas, 2022). This number is abysmal compared to New York City’s 29,303 people per square mile (University of Michigan, 2023). Austin’s low land density is seen across the US in growing cities and can cause serious problems for residents and wildlife alike. 

How Urban Sprawl Harms Residents

Urban sprawl is most closely associated with car travel and its effects on climate change, but how do cars harm everyday people? One study found that increased air pollutants associated with frequent car travel leads to heightened rates of cancer within residents (Washoe Residents for Appropriate Planning, 2023). Combustion engines in gas cars and buses release harmful pollutants like benzene, which is a known carcinogen (Breast Cancer Action, 2022). Heavy motor vehicle traffic seen in sprawling urban areas are the largest contributor of this chemical. Alongside this, these same pollutants interact with existing heat and oxygen in the atmosphere to create frightening swaths of photochemical smog. Most notably, air pollutants can cause increased respiratory difficulties highlighted in widespread increased rates of Asthma (Washoe Residents for Appropriate Planning, 2023). Along with health issues, urban sprawl creates heat islands. Heat islands create elevated temperatures during the day, causing residents to spend more money on air conditioning and enlarging risks of heat related illnesses. Illnesses such as heat cramps, exhaustion and heat stroke have increased across the board nationally, in large part due to heat islands. 

A Graph displaying the relationship between urban areas and the heat island effect (World Meteorological Organization, 2021).

How Urban Sprawl Harms Wildlife

Not only are those living within an urban area affected negatively by urbanization, wildlife miles outside of a city are harmed. Large urban areas require mass amounts of concrete infrastructure in order to support the thousands of people living within the area. This mass amount of impervious surfaces creates extreme levels of water runoff which can contribute to flooding and the spread of pollution (University of Michigan, 2023). Polluted water spreads out of the city and into the surrounding area, harming much of the wildlife within the region. Along with pollution, urban sprawl removes hundreds of miles of wildlife for prominent species in a region, allowing only species who can easily adapt to an urban landscape to remain. Increased sprawl created without wildlife in mind has pushed dozens of species to the brink of extinction, with no end to the sprawl in sight (Ewing, 2022).

Urban sprawl is not a new phenomenon, suburban sprawl especially became the face of the post war era in the US. Urban sprawl harms not only the citizens within the region, but the environment around the sprawl. Urban sprawl must be prevented in order to stop continued societal and environmental harm.

Typical suburban neighborhood in Las Vegas, Nevada (Rafferty, 2022). 

References

Austin city, Texas. (2022). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Austin city, Texas. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/austincitytexas/LND110210

Breast Cancer Action. (2022). Clean Cars. Breast Cancer Action. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://www.bcaction.org/about-think-before-you-pink/campaigns/clean-cars/

Ewing, R. (2022). ENDANGEREDby Sprawl. National Wildlife Federation. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://www.nwf.org/~/media/PDFs/Wildlife/EndangeredbySprawl.pdf

Large Southern Cities Lead Nation in Population Growth. (2023, May 18). Census Bureau. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023/subcounty-metro-micro-estimates.html

Rafferty, J. (2022). The Problem of Urban Sprawl | Saving Earth | Encyclopedia Britannica. Britannica. Retrieved March 8, 2024, from https://www.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/urban-sprawl

University of Michigan. (2023). U.S. Cities Factsheet | Center for Sustainable Systems. Center for Sustainable Systems. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://css.umich.edu/publications/factsheets/built-environment/us-cities-factsheet

Washoe Residents for Appropriate Planning. (2023). Effects of Urban Sprawl. Washoe Residents for Appropriate Planning. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://washoerap.com/effects-of-urban-sprawl/

World Meteorological Organization. (2021). Urban heat island | World Meteorological Organization. World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved March 5, 2024, from https://community.wmo.int/en/activity-areas/urban/urban-heat-island