Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 8
Urban Fragmentation and Sprawl
This chapter is based on case studies that show the extent of geography, a
discipline rooted in field observation. These case studies are chosen to illustrate two
major aspects of the urban crisis in the United States: the territorial effects of social
divisions on one hand, and the effect of these divisions when combined with the
political fragmentation of metropolitan areas, on the other. We will see how urban
fragmentation affects urban sprawl in metropolitan areas. Four cities are used to
illustrate this study. The examples of Atlanta and Detroit will be studied first, then
complemented and balanced by case studies of Houston and Portland.
8.1. Social divisions find expression in land use patterns
Throughout American history, ethnic and cultural enclaves have been regular
features of city life. Immigrants crowded into transitional neighborhoods in
America's major cities (see Chapter 3). As they made their way into productive life,
they would then move on to other neighborhoods and other cities. America's big
cities have always been a patchwork of neighborhoods of very unequal social
standing. Territorial disparities are not new, but it is only since the Second World
War that a change of urban scale affected the footprint of segregation.
The 20th century was marked by the massive migration of blacks from the rural
South to the big cities. The influx of the rural poor further impoverished the already
crowded transitional neighborhoods. The prosperity that followed the Second World
War, together with vastly improved personal mobility, led to the abandonment of
