Defining sprawl - Letters - Letter to the Editor

Sierra, July-August, 2002 by James Carnahan

On page 17 of the March/April issue there is a photo of a residential subdivision next to the headline "Ten Reasons Why Sprawl Is Hazardous to Your Health" ("Lay of the Land"). Is this picture supposed to epitomize sprawl? In terms of density, the subdivision is composed of lots no larger than 5,000 square feet, a density of eight to ten units per acre. Guidelines say this is the minimum needed to support bus-transit operations.

The density pictured, in conjunction with activity centers within walking distance and the open space that clearly surrounds it, is a fundamental component of "smart growth." If you had shown instead an aerial view of a suburban subdivision of 1.5-acre lots, which is the rule where I live in Chatham County, North Carolina, I wonder how many of your readers would have recognized it as truly automobile-dependent sprawl? Most, I fear, would have thought, "How attractive!"

James Carnahan
Pittsboro, North Carolina

Editor's note: In Las Vegas, where this picture was taken, urbanized areas grew 244 percent between 1982 and 1996, and the still-growing population is expected to double by 2020. So that open space in the background likely won't stay open for long.