What is urban sprawl? According to Webster's, "urban sprawl is the spread of urban congestion into adjoining suburbs and rural sections." Urban sprawl has become an issue for concern in the country since 1920. There was a rapid rate of sub urbanization between the years 1920 and 1950. Then by the seventies and eighties, urban sprawl has been curbed to moderate suburbanization ("The Truth," 1999, 1). Urban sprawl has characterized American growth patterns for the past eighty years. There has been much controversy surrounding this "hot" topic. Urban sprawl has created an all out national debate about our land and its use. There have been about 19 states that have "growth-management laws" or "task forces" that are designed to protect open spaces and farmland ("Truth about urban sprawl," 1999, 1). Even former President Bill Clinton set over a billion dollars aside to protect land and to slow down sprawl (Baker, 2000, 1). Urban sprawl may sound like it is destroying our !
             nation, and many believe that it is a huge problem for concern in our country today, but is it? The answer to this question, I believe is, "no." Have we done our part to curb this problem; how much is too much? Urban sprawl should not be a cause for concern in today's society. We did our part as a nation to curb this problem earlier in our history. Urbanization must continue as long as our population grows. There are many reasons to support this claim.
             Many people that oppose the expanding of our nation, by means of sprawl, believe that urban sprawl is a cause for concern in the United States. Their concerns are driven by "low-density residential developments" that are threatening farmland and open space. They believe that urbanization creates higher costs on the public. They believe that people of wealth leave the cities because of the increase of populati...