Fix It First - Sprawl - Sierra Club

Fix It First - Sprawl - Sierra Club

The sierra club has an interesting view of sprawl and development. Their concern is increasing the quality of already developed areas, rather than expanding outwards. The Sierra Club makes a good point to the need to fix current roads and bridges before expanding into "nowhere". What's important is to realize is the government is providing club goods that act as public goods. In essence there creating a market inefficiency yet meeting demands. People have taken on the belief that government should provide our roads, highways, parks, etc. Because of this it is provided best fit as seen by government rather than market demand. This could be a cause of sprawl.

http://www.sierraclub.org/sprawl/community/transformations/index.asp

The sierra club also provides an interesting set of photos on what the development of certain locations should look like. I think these show a good picture of new urbanism development. I find it interesting to see how they add light rail and make the area look more congested. It is like a return to the past where buildings are close together. Although these look nice, the area will become more congested and could defeat their own purpose of reducing sprawl. If people don't respond and start taking rail, biking or walking then cars will be even more crammed causing more pollution and could create another inefficiency in the market. I think its best to let developers produce what is demanded, if that's a new urban area than great, and if a suburb than that's good to.