The Environmental Protection Agency has released a report (pdf) on residential construction trends and it reveals that more than two-thirds of the metro LA housing built between 2005 and 2009 was infill (built in developed areas rather than on virgin land on the outskirts). Sprawl is dead! It's the Mayan apocalypse of sprawl! Well, let's not go crazy, but we do have to point out that LA's 67.5 percent of infill in that period beats out the New York metro's 65.9 percent (places like Austin and Texas are still majority-sprawl cities, meanwhile, while San Jose is eight-tenths infill). The LA Times explains the trend: "Compared to the postwar period, fewer American households have children, lessening demand for the conventional large-lot suburban house. Rising transportation costs have added to the allure of homes with shorter commutes ... Areas with high housing costs and demand also create a market for the condominiums, townhomes and small apartments that are typical of infill housing." Furthermore, infill building "cut per capita air pollution from auto emissions by a third or more, compared with the same construction elsewhere in the same metropolitan regions."
· Infill housing development rises in Los Angeles region [LAT]
· LA's Urban Core Sucking Back Up Some of That Leaking Sprawl [Curbed LA]
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