Sprawl costs US more than a trillion dollars a year
Sprawl costs the American economy more than $1 trillion annually, according to a new study by the New Climate Economy. That's more than $3,000 for every man, woman, and child.
These costs include greater spending on infrastructure, public service delivery and transportation. The study finds that Americans living in sprawled communities directly bear $625 billion in extra costs. In addition, all residents and businesses, regardless of where they are located, bear an extra $400 billion in external costs.
Correcting this problem provides an opportunity to increase economic productivity, improve public health, and protect the environment. The report identifies specific smart growth policies that can lead to healthier, safer, and wealthier communities in both developed and developing countries.
These policies include implementing complete streets, eliminating minimum parking requirements, allowing more compact, mixed-use development, and reducing tax and spending subsidies for automobile travel and large-lot housing.
The report, Analysis of Public Policies that Unintentionally Encourage and Subsidize Sprawl—written for the New Climate Economy by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute, in partnership with LSE (London School of Economics) Cities—details planning and market distortions that foster sprawl, and smart growth policies that can help correct these distortions.
Sprawl increases the distance between homes, businesses, services and jobs, which raises the cost of providing infrastructure and public services by at least 10 percent—and up to 40 percent. The most sprawled American cities spend an average of $750 on infrastructure per person each year, while the least sprawled cities spend close to $500. In its Better Growth, Better Climate report, the New Climate Economy has found that acting to implement smarter urban growth policies on a global scale could reduce urban infrastructure capital requirements by more than US $3 trillion over the next 15 years.
The new report defines smart growth—the opposite of sprawl—as compact, connected and coordinated urban development. Smart growth cities and towns have well-defined boundaries, a range of housing options, a mix of residential and commercial buildings, and accessible sidewalks, bike lanes, and public transportation. By reducing per capita land consumption and infrastructure and transportation costs, smart growth policies deliver significant economic, social, and environmental benefits, the authors report.
“Smart growth is not anti-suburb," says Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute. :Instead, it ensures that diverse housing options are available and incentivizes households to choose the most resource-efficient options that meet their needs. We are now seeing growth in demand by millennials and the elderly for affordable, compact housing in accessible and multimodal neighborhoods. However, current government policies tend to favor larger, less-accessible homes. For example, in most communities there are strict limits on development densities, restrictions on multifamily housing and excessive parking requirements, which drive up housing costs and encourage sprawl. Consumer preferences are changing; government regulations on housing should too.”
Sprawl is bad for your health, the report notes. Americans who live in sprawled areas are between two and five times more likely to be killed in car accidents and twice as likely to be overweight as those in more walkable neighborhoods.
Residents of compact, connected communities in the United States save more money and have greater economic opportunity than they would in more sprawled, automobile-dependent neighbourhoods. Households in accessible areas spend on average $5,000 less per year on transportation expenses, and real estate located in smart growth communities tends to retain its value better than in sprawled communities, due to greater accessibility to services. These communities are also more inclusive for people who cannot drive: they offer easier access to schools, public services and jobs, and encourage mixed-income communities. Because of these factors, research shows that lower-income children tend to be much more economically successful if they grow up in smart growth communities.
“Reducing urban sprawl is good for the economy and the climate," notes Helen Mountford, Global Program Director for the New Climate Economy. "For a real-world example of sprawl versus smart growth, compare Atlanta and Barcelona. Both cities have approximately the same population and the same level of wealth per person, but Atlanta takes up over 11 times as much land and produces six times the transport-related carbon emissions per person as Barcelona. And congested, sprawling cities are costly to the economy; for example through all the hours that commuters or delivery trucks waste stuck in traffic jams. Cities that are compact, connected and coordinated can unleash productivity and growth opportunities, while minimizing harm to the climate.”
All cities can benefit from increased economic productivity, more affordable housing options, more livable communities, infrastructure cost savings, reduced accident risk, improved public fitness and health, increased opportunity for physically and economically disadvantaged groups and improved mobility options for non-drivers, the report says.
Adoption of smart growth policies would also help fight global climate change. Urban sprawl is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, according to Better Growth, Better Climate, the New Climate Economy’s flagship report from September 2014. Cities are responsible for 70 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. The adoption of compact, transit-oriented cities could reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by about 0.6 billion tons of CO2 equivalent in 2030, rising to 1.8 billion tons CO2 equivalent by 2050, more than twice the annual emissions of Canada, New Climate Economy says.
