Maps from 'Causes of sprawl: A portrait from space'

by Marcy Burchfield, Henry G. Overman, Diego Puga, and Matthew A. Turner

The maps below show sprawl across the conterminous United States and in several metropolitan areas, by comparing remote-sensing images for these two dates. Areas marked in yellow are urban land that was already built circa 1976 and areas marked in red are urban land built between circa 1976 and 1992. The maps are adapted from those in the article by Marcy Burchfield, Henry G. Overman, Diego Puga, and Matthew A. Turner 'Causes of sprawl: A portrait from space', published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics 121(2), May 2006.

High-quality PDF versions of these maps are available by clicking on the images below.

The Conterminous United States

Atlanta

Boston

Miami

San Francisco

Austin and San Antonio

Saint Louis

In addition to urban development patterns in Austin and San Antonio, this map illustrates that areas overlaying an aquifer, where it is possible to obtain drinking water by sinking a well, tend to see more scattered development than areas where drinking water necessarily comes from a connection to a public water system.

In addition to urban development patterns in Saint Louis, this map illustrates that scattered development often escapes municipal regulations by locating close to existing development but just outside municipal boundaries.

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