Consumption and Urban Sprawl

In 1951, the home building firm, Levitt and Sons, designed a method to mass produce homes at a rate of around 30 homes daily. Other residential construction firms of the day were making around 4 or 5 unique homes a year! Each of the manufactured homes were around 750 square feet and sat on a 1/7 acre patch of grass. They had an unfinished second floor, no basement, and no garage (Read More Here). On average, each house sheltered 5 people.

As World War II and overseas reconstruction efforts came to a close, American servicemen (16 million) began to pour back into the country and start families. But, they came home to a major housing shortage and were often unable to afford homes to their liking (around 5 million homes short). Levittown and other similarly mass manufactured developments were affordable options for many of those servicemen (but minorities were often unjustly turned down).

These early suburbs were almost always close to the compact business districts of a large city (Within 20-30 minutes by train). They were smaller homes (less than 1,000 square feet) on smaller plots. Families usually owned one car. Wives would drop their husbands off at the train station if they lived too far away (10 minutes) to walk.

Since blacks were barred from these new, cheap developments they lived in the older central city. During this era, blacks were also migrating from the rural South to the North and West to find jobs. As blacks and other minorities became the majorities in the urban centers, many whites became anxious and moved out to the suburbs. The suburbs became the ideal "white" utopic vision of the American dream that was buttressed by popular culture and media depictions.

During this time, single-use zoning also became a fad. Areas were zoned for commercial, industrial, or residential only. This also forced people often from their urban homes due to zoning changes. As a result of all these factors, by the late '50s early '60s suburbia was perceived as the appropriate and normal place for middle-class whites.

Suburbs have now overgrown their dense urban centers. The average American home is now over 2,500 square feet, has a two car garage, and sits on 1/5 of an acre. On top of this only 2.5 people inhabit the average home and the population has risen dramatically. Every decade the average one way commute to work goes up about 5 minutes and is currently around 27 minutes. That means that every year, the average American loses around 225 hours just driving to work not even counting the continuously stretched distances to the gas station, grocery store, school, etc.

This exponentially expanding urban sprawl poses serious threats to the environment and economic sustainability. The extent of low-density sprawl from urban centers now means that suburbs are totally car dependent. We own 2.3 cars per household. Traffic is continually a worse and worse problem. Infrastructure costs such as road building and maintenance, water pipes, electric grid, etc. are increasing exponentially as the sprawl expands from the commercial and industrial center.

Source: US Census Bureau

Peak oil theory predicts that the rate of oil extraction will eventually plateau and decline. The most reliable studies believe the extraction capacity will peak sometime between 2020 and 2100. If this is the case, the decline in oil energy would likely outpace our ability to develop new energy solutions and cause a spike in demand and price greater than anything we've seen. While I don't think this is cause for panic, I think we ought to be developing more sustainable, efficient, and eco-friendly energy and a land-use plan that is conducive to less oil dependence. At least some countries are taking this risk very seriously (Germany, France, and Denmark). The United States Department of Energy in a 2005 study found that peak oil was a real threat, particularly for the low-density and oil-dependent United States. It further found that "[v]iable mitigation options exist on both the supply and demand sides, but to have substantial impact, they must be initiated more than a decade in advance of peaking." (Peaking of World Oil Production: Impact, Mitigation, and Risk Management)

Urban sprawl also contributes to pollution and climate change. Studies show that Americans in particular think they require more space and more stuff to be comfortable and happy raising a family than they actually do. In 1947, the average American space per person was around 210 sq. ft, now it is over 950 sq. ft. per person: same happiness levels. We fill our trash cans with 2 times the weight of trash bins in Western Europe. Although I don't think we should be frantic about the situation, we should react intelligently to the fact that at least three quarters of scientists support the idea that human activity contributes significantly to the global climate change. (For more information, click here)

Other than avoiding exponentially increasing costs of urban sprawl and the limited future affordability of oil, there are other benefits to living in higher-density closer-to-downtown areas. People that live in higher-density, mixed zoning locations walk more and are more healthy. Suburb dwellers have higher obesity levels and anti-social behavior. Higher-density dwellers have much more social interaction than the average suburbanite. City dwellers enjoy the social capital benefits of closer and more numerous personal relationships and increased informedness of current events. Urbanites eat healthier and fresher food. Living in diverse and beautiful places that tell stories make places worth living in. Suburban homogeneity has a lower aesthetic quality in the eyes of the majority. People living in attractive places may have more pride in their homes and schools. Small-businesses tend to be more competitive with corporations in urban zones too. Even if the oil crisis was to be decades away, it is most likely that the quality of life would increase with a large percentage of people either moving to rural areas or closer to the dense-urban centers.

Although I don't think these issues are causes for immediate panic; I do think it means that we need to start making serious changes now. We need to provide incentives for people to live closer to the urban center and in smaller spaces. Perhaps concentric property tax zones that increase away from the urban center. Perhaps invest less in adding lanes and more into public transportation options and toll roads. We need to divorce a car or two, not our spouses! We need to deregulate zoning by a lot. More mixed-use zoning is a must. We need to make small-business and pedestrian friendly neighborhoods.

These policies should only affect suburbia around major urban centers. Rural, farming, and small town America, for me, is another issue. Rural areas have often developed in sustainable ways and their industry requires a different infrastructure. It would be apples and oranges to compare rural areas and very small towns with the big city sprawl problem that I am addressing here.

Some fire back at these suggestions saying that it is people's preference to live in suburbs. While suburbs may well have a permanent place in America, they need a certain population density to function sustainably like they were originally designed. Before lower-density developments are allowed, a dense-enough center should be developed first. Consumers have also preferred cigarettes. Similarly, young people today are slowly abandoning the cultural status quo for greater sensibility.

Now, on an individual level, I do not think it is morally reprehensible or stupid to live in the suburbs or to move out to cheaper housing. It may be the best thing for a particular family. But, on a social level it is both irresponsible and shortsighted to incentivize it. We need to make the incentives for living closer to the urban center line up with the needs of the society to overcome the cooperative action problem. Eventually, the more compact lifestyle would likely overtake suburbia as the majority's preference as it has elsewhere in the world for working-age citizens. Developing alternative energy and fuel sources should also be part of the solution. We need efficient public transportation. We need to be able to walk to the store, to work, to school, etc. Mixed-use planning can do a lot on that front.

The real American Dream is the intense hope and promise of freedom and prosperity. Providing incentives to move away from exponential urban sprawl will allow for a more sustainable economy. In the long run, this would be an investment allowing future generations to pursue the American Dream. Let's act now and invest rather than react later to an abrupt change in conditions later.