-
Essay / New Urbanism: An Overview of Urban Sprawl
Urban sprawl areas are large and complex. They have been around for many years and occupy approximately two million acres of open space in the United States each year. Urban sprawl requires a car for even the smallest task and is not environmentally friendly. Today, a new system is beginning to emerge: it is new urbanism or intelligent growth. New urbanism is a smaller system that saves more open space, reduces dependence on cars and reduces pollution. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original EssayThe first way an urban sprawl area has a negative effect is through the road network. The highways are always clogged with traffic. They use street maps that direct cars onto a few major roads, causing congestion in that area with traffic and pollution. It also isolates commercial and residential areas, requiring the use of a car for each task. Roads are often widened in an attempt to reduce traffic congestion, but this only attracts more drivers to the area and causes even more traffic jams. Statistics show that a two-car family will make about ten car trips a day and that in a year, a person who has to travel about an hour to and from work each way will spend about twelve weeks of work to get to and from work. The new urban planning integrates public transport. Public transportation allows people to travel by bus, subway, or even on foot to and from their destination. This requires fewer car trips, shorter commutes and fewer highways. Ultimately, this will also reduce total pollution because there will be fewer cars on the roads. The second area improved by the new urban planning is parking. Parking in an urban sprawl area is usually a large parking lot in front of the business. This keeps commerce away from the sidewalk. Residential parking is generally a driveway connecting the street. This causes the house to move further away from the road, which could result in less use of the front yard. Another parking situation is parallel parking. It is not recommended in an urban sprawl area as it can be dangerous and cause traffic jams when trying to park. New urban planning suggests parking in areas such as along curbs, behind stores or even in parking garages. Parking in these areas allows the store to be right along the sidewalk, which may even make it safe to walk to the store. Street parking also makes walking safer, as it requires much less walking between the person's car and the store. Parking in a garage in a residential sense allows the house to be next to the street, creating a feeling of comfort for someone walking. New urban planning also helps reduce the distance from one destination to another. In an urban sprawl area, a person may have to travel several miles before getting from one store to another, but in new urbanism this allows stores to be placed directly next to each other, which allows a person to walk out of a store and right. in the next one. This can come down to parking behind a store and being able to walk down the street from one store to another, without ever having to move your car. Another improvement of.