Sprawl
Basics
Real Estate Giant: Suburban Office Parks Increasingly Obsolete
What tenants want in an office building is changing, and the old model of the isolated suburban office park is going the way of the fax machine. That's according to a new report from Newmark, Grubb, Knight and Frank [PDF], one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the world.
December 10, 2015
Study: Sprawling Areas Require 3 Times as Much Pavement Per Person
One of the big downsides to sprawl is the public cost of maintaining infrastructure that is extended over wide areas. A new study of New Jersey by Smart Growth America and New Jersey Future [PDF] attempts to quantify this relationship by looking at the amount of space devoted to roads in communities of varying densities.
November 11, 2015
Braves Stadium Relocation Shaping Up to Be a Disaster
When the Braves announced they were leaving Atlanta for suburban Cobb County in 2013, logistically it seemed to make some sense. After all, the new stadium site is more centrally located in relation to the highest concentration of fans who attend games.
October 30, 2015
Marohn vs. O’Toole: Sizing Up The Great Debate
Last week, Charles Marohn of Strong Towns went head to head with "antiplanner" Randall O'Toole in Lafayette, Louisiana. The debate was billed as an event to help the city with its regional planning process and was broadcast over local radio.
September 15, 2015
Calculating the Big Impact of Sprawl on Cities’ Bottom Line
When someone builds a new home, does it make the city stronger and more fiscally sound? Or does it drain public resources? The answer depends a lot on where it's sited and, more specifically, where it lies in relation to other homes and businesses.
April 8, 2015
Study: Annual Cost of Sprawl in America Adds Up to $4,500 Per Person
A new study confirms what we already know too well: Sprawl is expensive. The New Climate Economy's latest report [PDF] attempts to put a figure on it and it's pretty staggering: more than $1 trillion a year nationwide.
March 24, 2015
Miami Mayor’s Economic Fix: Build America’s Biggest, Tackiest Mall
Forget what you've heard about the death of American shopping malls. Yesterday, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez unveiled plans for a 200-acre megamall complete with "submarines, a Legoland, sea lions and an artificial ski slope."
March 6, 2015
Sprawl Costs the Public More Than Twice as Much as Compact Development
How much more does it cost the public to build infrastructure and provide services for sprawling development compared to more compact neighborhoods? A lot more, according to this handy summary from the Canadian environmental think tank Sustainable Prosperity.
March 5, 2015
Two Graphs That Illustrate America’s Dysfunctional Housing Market
Jed Kolko, chief economist at real estate information giant Trulia, recently shared these two graphs that give us an interesting glimpse into what's happening in the American housing market.
February 5, 2015
The Suburbs Aren’t Dying — They’re Growing Differently
Cross-posted from the Frontier Group.
January 26, 2015