64 Economic dimensions and socio-cultural patterns
other spaces where normal land values are low and investments few. Often these
are the disaster-prone areas affected by floods, earthquakes, and mudslides. They
tend to be the worst for buildings and for constructing infrastructure, such as
watersupply and sewage treatment. In much of the world, squatter settlements
on poor sites are an increasingly familiar sign of a rapidly growing urban region.
Aquite different economic, social, and environmental pattern occurs with
sprawl(Chapter1), an urbanization process producing low-building-density built
areas, particularly characteristic in North America (Handy1992,Jenkset al.1996,
Gordon and Richardson 1997, Bullardet al.2000,Lopez2003,Frumkinet al.2004).
Sprawl thrives on market economics with weak government controls, where
people with ample capital can own large house lots and travel largely by vehicle.
Sprawl correlates with population growth, though even no-growth areas often
exhibit a net outward sprawl. The widespread nature of the process is illustrated
regionally, where 95 % of the 74 Economic Areas in the US South are expected to
experience some degree of sprawl, compared with 88 % of the 98 areas elsewhere
in the USA (Burchellet al.2005).
Modeling various compact-growth scenarios as alternatives to sprawl can be
done using important spatial attributes in urban regions, such as adding an
urban growth boundary (Ozawa2004)orchanneling development to the only
county with public services available. Such models (Jenkset al.1996, Gordon
and Richardson 1997) can also compare the potential costs associated with each
growthscenario. Even forest fragmentation, e.g., as a result of sprawl, correlates
with urbanization area and may be a useful economic indicator (Wickhamet al.
2000).Ecological footprints
The final economic perspective for urban regions indirectly integrates
many of the preceding dimensions. Instead of using monetary value or calories
(Odum1973,Odum and Odum 1981 )astheuniversal currency, it uses area,
such as hectares or acres, as the universal currency to which ‘‘everything” can
be converted. Theecological footprintis the effect or ‘‘load” imposed on the bio-
sphere by a population or person (Wackernagel and Rees1996,Rees2003,Mayor
Farguellet al.2005, Lucket al.2001). Commonly it is measured as the total area
of productive land and water surface required to support the population.
Consistent with ecological economics (Costanza 1991 ), the concept recognizes
that: (1) irrespective of changes in trade and technology, humans remain tightly
interlinked with natural systems, and the economic production and consump-
tion process invariably uses an area of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; and
(2) biophysical measures, rather than monetary, more effectively express the
relationship between humans and ecosystems on Earth (Costanza 2000,van