The Great Levittown Impact Essay -- Urban Sprawl Urbanization Essays

The Great Levittown Impact The third listing for the definition of sprawl in the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is as follows: â€Å"to spread or develop irregularly†. Unfortunately, this is the pattern, or lack thereof, with which America’s development is following. Every single day the world population rises, and these new babies have to live somewhere. Due to the fact that the birth rate is larger than that of the death rate in America (http://www.bartleby.com/151/a24.html), new homes and communities must be developed to accommodate all of the incoming people. This fundamental concept is coupled by another very powerful driving force prompting people to live in the suburbs of America, and that is greed. The economy makes available to the country a degree of ownership never before matched in our history, and people are taking advantage of it. This idea drives people to move from the congested, smoky, and frantic cities to the serenity of the countryside, where they have t he opportunity to own much more land and live a more peaceful life. For a time this worked very nicely as portrayed in the incredible success of the communities created by William Levitt. Levittown was a dream of William Levitt, which encompassed the idea that all Americans can afford a home in the country. It was a success in the time of its creation, but we are beginning to see the dangers that this type of super growth brings along with it. Urban sprawl is an issue that will require much attention in the future, to prevent the negative effects that are already taking their toll. Expansion has been the trend of human civilization developments ever since agriculture allowed man to settle into permanent communities. The cast... ...gether to create economic and environmental prosperity. Bibliography: Business 2.0, â€Å"The sultans of Sprawl†, Ed Brown, http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,4887,FF.html, 1999 Levittown at Fifty, â€Å"Growing Pains†, Geoffrey Mohan, http://www.lihistory.com/specsec/hslevtwo.htm, 2002 Bartleby.com, World Fact Book 2001, â€Å"Birth Rate†, http://www.bartleby.com/151/a24.html, 2001 Florida Sustainable Community Center, â€Å"The Historical Roots of Sprawl†, Joseph Smyth, Excerpted from "The Economic Power of Sustainable Development: Building the New American Dream", a chapter in Sustainable Cities: Concepts and Strategies for Eco-City Development, Eco-Home Media, http://sustainable.state.fl.us/fdi/fscc/news/world/rtsprawl.htm, 1998 Environmental Protection Agency OMS Fact Sheet #3, â€Å"Automobiles and Carbon Monoxide†, http://www.epa.gov/otaq/03-co.htm, 1993