City Limits: Putting the Brakes on Sprawl

This report discusses the negative impacts of urban sprawl on the health and economic well being of its population. It notes that though walking and bicycling are healthier and more accessible modes of transportation than driving, these modes are often discouraged by the layout of cities and roads. Highways, and automobile centered locales, are heavily subsidized by automobile and oil companies. Public transit can discourage automobile use. The report presents the stories of three cities that chose livability over sprawl: Copenhagen, Denmark; Portland, Oregon; and Curitiba, Brazil. The report also describes how to eliminate the incentives for sprawl, how to restructure governments so that they do not continue to support the status quo, and methods to create constituencies for change.