Analytical 3: Current Event Analysis

The issue that has developed more currently is the developing problem of urban sprawl. The term "urban sprawl" is used to describe cities where the people in a general urban area tend to move farther away from the cities over a long stretch of time. The reason why this could be bad is because of the risk of detroying natural habitats for many wild animals, as well as stretching out the amount of time to get from point A to point B. While some people like being more spread out, it can take a very long time to get to someone’s house if they live very far away to the cities, such as on a farm-like land. Living in a more rural area is not nescessarily a bad thing, considering the fact that people need farmer to help the production of milk and other food produce, but some people see it more beneficial if suburbs are more compact and closer together, while being very close to the city that they surround. The solution to this "problem" is what is called smart growth, which would, in the end, keep suburbs very compact and closer to the cities. This push to bring a city closer together has recently been seen as beneficial, because it would help reduce the exaggeration of people moving away from cities. More compact cities could improve the amount of time for alternate transportation, such as trains, which would make many people's lives easier, rather than driving to work. Others see the the potential solution as a way to cause more pollution, because of heavier traffic from more people and more car, even if it kept the highway system more compact. This isssue depends on the city, because some cities may have more spread-out suburb, making the trip from someon’s far-suburban home to the city a drag, especially when there is heavy traffic. Again, this heavier traffic would be a result of people refusing to take public transportation because of more crowded trains and/or buses. A city like Chicago doesn’t really have much of an issue, because there are suburbs like Skokie that are right next to Chicago, but extend farther out to separate themeselves, so that a person can choose whether he or she wants to live closer to Chicago, or closer to the neighboring suburb. A balance should be brought up as a potential solution, so that people stop fighting about this issue.