In an upbeat essay entitled "Ten Things Wrong With Sprawl," James McElfish, Jr. outlines all the evils of sprawl: longer commutes, poor air quality, neglected inner city infrastructures, among other things. McElfish, director of the Sustainable Use of Land Program at the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Law Institute, also points out we are sprawling by accident:
Much of the sprawl we see is the unintended result of laws and policies that were imperfectly aimed at something else, such as easing transportation delays, encouraging school modernization, providing healthy settings for housing, or stimulating home ownership. We got really depressed after we read this. To cheer ourselves up, we googled Mr. McElfish to see if he does look elfish. (A bit. But he's still handsome. And smart!)
· Ten Things Wrong With Sprawl [The E Magazine]