Causes of urban sprawl include:

(a) Consumer and real estate industry preference for large houses and large lawns

(b) Dislike of housing "density" by a vocal and often uninformed minority that equates density with public housing, undesirable apartment complexes and rental tenants, and traffic and noise

(c) Lack of understanding of, or ignoring the consequences of, unplanned growth of metropolitan areas, smaller cities, and towns, or sometimes lack of an effective structure of regional governance to deal with these questions

(d) Allowing commercial strip development along major roads, instead of requiring concentration of retail uses in centers at intersections

(e) Over-dependence on the automobile as a means of transportation, sometimes necessitated by street layout

(f) Giving developers too much freedom to do as they please, underpaying for the public cost of infrastructure as they go.

Effects of urban sprawl

• Decreased livability, due to lack of walkability or

bikeability and increased traffic

• Disinvestment downtown and in urban neighborhoods and inner suburbs, where the infrastructure already has been paid for and where locations already are included in utility routes and service areas

• Loss of variety in housing choices as mass-produced housing predominates

• Concentration of community poverty leading to an even more bleak future and desperate choices

• Obstacles to spontaneous exercise opportunities through walking

• Increased costs for communities and taxpayers for public infrastructure, utilities, and services, including fighting wildfires

• Loss of the sociological and ecological benefits of rural heritage, local food production, and open space.