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Old 09-24-2018, 04:29 PM
 
Location: Rockville, MD
929 posts, read 1,893,537 times
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The discussion of which metros sprawl the most has been had on here ad nauseum. A lot of sprawl takes the form of strip malls.

However, some metros tend to have massive strip malls while others tend to have smaller strip malls.
Among the typical sprawlers, I'd say metros of Houston, Dallas and Phoenix tend to have larger strip malls while Atlanta tends to have smaller ones (but the ones in Gwinnett county tend to be larger relative to those in the rest of the metro).

Among metros that aren't cited as being runaway with sprawl, Chicago and Denver tend to have larger strip malls, while Philadelphia, Boston and NYC have smaller strip malls.

Metros of DC, the SF Bay and Miami tend to have a mix.

Which metros do you think have small or large strip malls? Feel free to supplement your post with pictures and/or street views.
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Old 09-24-2018, 04:37 PM
 
Location: SoCal
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In LA they are very compact and crowded, the one's close to my home are limited to one hour parking, and most employees can't park there. Just puts things in perspective just how wasteful we are as Americans giant parking lots with no one even using the back parking lots.
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Old 09-25-2018, 03:10 PM
 
6,772 posts, read 4,447,469 times
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Interesting thread. I know that "sprawl" is a 4-letter word in the world of geography and demographics. But depending on ones specific definition of "sprawl" there's hardly a metro area over 1.5 million that doesn't have development extending outward from the central city. The larger the metros, the more this is the case. Just look at density charts in 25/50/75 mile radius of the central cities. People move farther out in order to find homes they can afford. Trying to "control" this jacks taxes, fees, and prices out of reach for the average family. Just trying to give perspective to sprawl........In terms of strip malls, they are everywhere in this nation. The degrees in how numerous in size and number from metro to metro isn't very much. I've been helping my wife care for her mom who has Parkinson's Disease who lives in Cape Cod, MA. Cape Cod has more than its share of strip malls, which actually surprised me. Metro Boston has plenty as well, especially in the South Shore. So they're everywhere. For good or bad, they're just reacting to market demands. If they can be built to be more attractive and blending into its surroundings, it sure helps matters. But "sprawl" and strip malls aren't necessarily as evil as many would suggest, lol. They're only a reaction to human habits and demands. When we start trying to artificially control and over reach with mandates and controls, we create an whole slew of new problems (overwhelming taxes/fees, out of reach home prices, lack of consumer choices, etc.). Again, good thread.
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Old 09-26-2018, 08:43 PM
 
Location: Rockville, MD
929 posts, read 1,893,537 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sean1the1 View Post
In LA they are very compact and crowded, the one's close to my home are limited to one hour parking, and most employees can't park there. Just puts things in perspective just how wasteful we are as Americans giant parking lots with no one even using the back parking lots.
They are indeed compact in LA and most of the SFV (both LA and non-LA parts), but they seem fairly sprawling in parts of the South Bay (like Torrance, in particular), south OC (Irvine) and lots of the San Gabriel Valley (e.g. Walnut).
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Old 09-26-2018, 08:50 PM
 
Location: Rockville, MD
929 posts, read 1,893,537 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by march2 View Post
Interesting thread. I know that "sprawl" is a 4-letter word in the world of geography and demographics. But depending on ones specific definition of "sprawl" there's hardly a metro area over 1.5 million that doesn't have development extending outward from the central city. The larger the metros, the more this is the case. Just look at density charts in 25/50/75 mile radius of the central cities. People move farther out in order to find homes they can afford. Trying to "control" this jacks taxes, fees, and prices out of reach for the average family. Just trying to give perspective to sprawl........In terms of strip malls, they are everywhere in this nation. The degrees in how numerous in size and number from metro to metro isn't very much. I've been helping my wife care for her mom who has Parkinson's Disease who lives in Cape Cod, MA. Cape Cod has more than its share of strip malls, which actually surprised me. Metro Boston has plenty as well, especially in the South Shore. So they're everywhere. For good or bad, they're just reacting to market demands. If they can be built to be more attractive and blending into its surroundings, it sure helps matters. But "sprawl" and strip malls aren't necessarily as evil as many would suggest, lol. They're only a reaction to human habits and demands. When we start trying to artificially control and over reach with mandates and controls, we create an whole slew of new problems (overwhelming taxes/fees, out of reach home prices, lack of consumer choices, etc.). Again, good thread.
I hear you.


In Boston, from what I know at least, the south shore seems to have much more typical strip mall sprawl than metrowest. The strip malls in the south shore are still on the smaller side compared to those in suburban Chicagoland or Houston though.
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Old 09-29-2018, 09:36 AM
 
Location: Beautiful and sanitary DC
2,484 posts, read 3,495,784 times
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It probably has to do with parcel sizes and fragmentation thereof: western areas were subdivided later, and so had larger pieces of land that could be purchased and developed. Strip mall developers, unlike regional shopping mall developers, didn't have as much time or money to spend on assembling large tracts of land. It's the same reason why 1,000+ acre planned communities were scarce in the northeast, but common from Texas west.

There's a bit of a regulatory aspect with regard to access management (many towns now require consolidated driveways), but that's not a regional distinction.
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Old 09-29-2018, 09:52 AM
 
587 posts, read 419,938 times
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I haven't seen as many huge strip malls until I went to Texas
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