Working Paper: NBER ID: w9733
Authors: Edward L. Glaeser; Matthew E. Kahn
Abstract: Cities can be thought of as the absence of physical space between people and firms. As such, they exist to eliminate transportation costs for goods, people and ideas and transportation technologies dictate urban form. In the 21st century, the dominant form of city living is based on the automobile and this form is sometimes called sprawl. In this essay, we document that sprawl is ubiquitous and that it is continuing to expand. Using a variety of evidence, we argue that sprawl is not the result of explicit government policies or bad urban planning, but rather the inexorable product of car-based living. Sprawl has been associated with significant improvements in quality of living, and the environmental impacts of sprawl have been offset by technological change. Finally, we suggest that the primary social problem associated with sprawl is the fact that some people are left behind because they do not earn enough to afford the cars that this form of living requires.
Keywords: sprawl; urban growth; automobile; quality of life; social issues
JEL Codes: R0
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| technological dominance of the automobile (L62) | urban sprawl (R11) |
| automobile reduces transportation costs (R41) | decentralized living and working patterns (R23) |
| urban sprawl (R11) | improvements in quality of life (I31) |
| urban sprawl (R11) | larger housing sizes (R21) |
| urban sprawl (R11) | reduced commute times (R41) |
| decentralized living and working patterns (R23) | shorter average commute in edge cities (R11) |
| urban sprawl (R11) | negative social implications for lower-income individuals (I32) |