Sprawling out of control
Metropolitan Atlanta’s water crisis should frighten Winnipeg
Daniel Hildebrand
Although it is in many ways different from Winnipeg, Atlanta’s recent history of sprawl holds a few lessons for our city. They are lessons of what Winnipeg shouldn’t do.
Between 2000 and 2006, the population of metropolitan Atlanta grew from 4,548,413 to 5,478,667, an increase of over 20 per cent. Atlanta has been growing physically, too, and fast: over a similar six-year period in the 1990s, the city’s land-use grew by a staggering 47 per cent. Poorly planned development has resulted in a sprawling megalopolis with the longest commuting times in the United States, skyrocketing property taxes, and a water supply precariously close to exhaustion.
Atlanta’s sprawl has been partly fueled by its geography. There is simply no real boundary — no body of water, mountain, or international border — to constrain an increase in the city’s land-use. This is a situation that Winnipeg has likewise experienced. Although the slow growth of our economy has resulted in less dramatic sprawl, politicians and developers use the same argument when pressing for new suburbs.
There’s so much land available for development. During the late 1990s, the forests and agricultural land surrounding Atlanta were converted into low-density suburbs at a rate of 500 acres each week. The result is the lowest population density of any major American city. In terms of the current water crisis Atlanta’s sprawl is partially to blame. A 2002 Centre for Disease Control (an American government agency based, ironically, in Atlanta) study states “water quantity and water quality are directly affected by land use and development patterns.” A city is effectively a giant concrete pad. Unlike forest or agricultural land, a concrete pad does not absorb water very well. This means large amounts of water are lost to evaporation and vital underground aquifers go poorly supplied. In the case of Metropolitan Atlanta 21,694 square kilometres of land has been virtually covered with freeways and parking lots. The fact that so many suburbanites insist on watering their large lawns only exacerbates the problem. Winnipegers may shrug off the notion that low-density development could threaten water supply. We do, after all, live near some of the most abundant water reserves in the world. Winnipeg is unlikely to face a water shortage any time soon — although that should not give us license to waste — but there are other lessons to be learned from Atlanta’s growth pattern.
Atlanta’s water crisis only shows us one more reason to use our land efficiently.
The majority of Atlanta consists of poorly connected suburbs, commercial zones, and industrial parks as a result of sprawl. There is really no alternative to owning an automobile, and this is reflected in the meagre rate of mass transit usage, a mere 4.7 per cent. The people of Atlanta spend more time inside their cars than any other people on earth. Although apologists for suburbia will point out that many people enjoy driving and defend the “freedom” that private vehicle use provides, one wonders what they think of the high levels of taxation that are required to pay for the roads, freeways, and massive parking lots that low density suburban developments require. In regard to taxation, an interesting comparison between growth patterns can be observed between Atlanta and Portland, Ore. Unlike Atlanta, Portland’s growth has been subject to strict land-use controls since 1973. Since then, Portland’s population growth has vastly outpaced its land-use growth. The result is a more efficient urban space that has been able to reduce its taxation levels. In Atlanta, taxes have been rising drastically. It was recently reported that cost inflation has placed several of Winnipeg’s major infrastructure projects in jeopardy. Although Sam Katz has promised to be creative in approaching the problem (i.e. public/private partnerships), the fact is that Winnipeg’s physical area is at best barely sustainable for its current tax base. Atlanta’s water crisis only shows us one more reason to use our land efficiently.
Poorly planned growth can result in both catastrophic environmental effects and expensive infrastructural needs. It’s a lesson that Winnipeg would do well to quickly heed.
Daniel Hildebrand is a fourth-year student majoring in philosophy and history. He writes a blog, “The Axis of Free Will,” at www.axisoffreewill.blogspot.com.
