Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1. The New York UA is a behomoth. Even if you completely remove NYC's city limits from the equation, it remains the largest UA in physical size in the United States. The city is the antithesis of sprawl, but the suburbs consume land like a m'fer.
2. San Francisco is the least sprawly UA in the United States, half the size of the next city on this list (Seattle). It remains the smallest footprint even when combined with San Jose's UA ( AKA: The Bay Area).
3. Despite its poster child status, Los Angeles is only middle-of-the-pack as far as sprawl goes, and it has the highest population density of any UA on this list. It sprawls because...dude, it's a population of 12 million. Unless you're Dhaka or something, sprawl is inevitable when you're taking in that many people. There are worse offenders on this list. Which brings us to...
4. Atlanta. The most sprawly "city" in the U.S. All the elements are there: A relatively undense core, low density suburbs, gaps in continuity, and a monstrous footprint--2645 sq miles . It is a nearly 1,000 sq miles larger than Houston's UA (another city that dodges darts for its sprawl) with less population. Not a knock on Atlanta, but it is should be #1 for most sprawl.
Last edited by RaymondChandlerLives; 09-02-2012 at 01:40 AM..
If you use the urban area as the measure, you're not measuring the sprawl of the city, but the sprawl of the suburbs. That said, I'm not sure it would be fair to call all of NY's urban area as its suburbs.
If you use the urban area as the measure, you're not measuring the sprawl of the city, but the sprawl of the suburbs. That said, I'm not sure it would be fair to call all of NY's urban area as its suburbs.
Ray's post is great and very informative, but this is a good point.
If you use the urban area as the measure, you're not measuring the sprawl of the city, but the sprawl of the suburbs. That said, I'm not sure it would be fair to call all of NY's urban area as its suburbs.
You're measuring the sprawl of both. City limits are arbritary and vary wildly in size, population, and density, doesn't really work. What do you suggest? Comparing the density of cities over a 50/100/200 sq mile area? That still takes in suburban land for most cities.
UA seems best suited for this discussion, moreso than city limits, MSA or CSA.
Last edited by RaymondChandlerLives; 09-02-2012 at 01:06 AM..
Suburbs of any major city outside of Boston, NYC, and LA feel rural to me.
That's a huge generalization IMO.
There are burbs of many cities that don't feel rural at all. Many burbs of DC, San Francisco, Miami and others are often as densely populated as their central cities.
If you use the urban area as the measure, you're not measuring the sprawl of the city, but the sprawl of the suburbs. That said, I'm not sure it would be fair to call all of NY's urban area as its suburbs.
Never said they were all suburbs, but Long Island, and the townships and whatnot that make up the NY UA are sprawly, no matter what they're called.
I must say though, referring to New York City as the "the antithesis of sprawl" was a HUGE understatement on my part. How much of an understatement?
If NYC + Hudson and Essex County were an urbanized area, it would be the 2nd most populous in the United States--9,663,145 million people living in a 475.8 sq mile area (20,309 ppsm).
For comparison's sake, the actual #2 (Chicago) is home to 8.6 million people, spread over 2,442 sq miles. That's an absurd difference.
Having said that, the other 8,700,000 residents in the NY UA live on a 2,975 sq mile area of land, which is still ginormously HUGE, and undense (2900 ppsm).
4. Atlanta. The most sprawly "city" in the U.S. All the elements are there: A relatively undense core, low density suburbs, gaps in continuity, and a monstrous footprint--2645 sq miles . It is a nearly 1,000 sq miles larger than Houston's UA (another city that dodges darts for its sprawl) with less population. Not a knock on Atlanta, but it is should be #1 for most sprawl.
Atlanta's UA is larger than Chicago's and right under NYC and the population is not as much as LA, NYC, Or Chicago....It HAS to be #1 for the sprawliest city on that list....The numbers proof it.
The reason sunbelt cities get criticized for sprawl is not because their UAs are very large or because their suburbs sprawl -- every city's suburbs sprawl, including London, Paris and even Tokyo (suburbs are supposed to be low density - that's their raison d'être). It is because they don't have a quality urban core and even if they have some fairly dense hoods in the city (e.g. LA) they all have an auto-centric design through and through that gives the same optical perception of sprawl whether you are 5 minutes from downtown or an hour. As a visitor to one of these cities you may not even be able to tell if you are in the city or in the suburbs. That's the problem.
The reason sunbelt cities get criticized for sprawl is not because their UAs are very large or because their suburbs sprawl -- every city's suburbs sprawl, including London, Paris and even Tokyo (suburbs are supposed to be low density - that's their raison d'être). It is because they don't have a quality urban core and even if they have some fairly dense hoods in the city (e.g. LA) they all have an auto-centric design through and through that gives the same optical perception of sprawl whether you are 5 minutes from downtown or an hour. As a visitor to one of these cities you may not even be able to tell if you are in the city or in the suburbs. That's the problem.
In my experience the above is completely false. Sorry...it totally sounds like someone's stereotypical perception rather than real-life experience.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
