European Sprawl: Who's to blame?

I read an article recently called European Urban Sprawl which disputs the myth that American sprawl is the cause of sprawl in Europe. The article was aged, but it made several observations which still apply to today. Supposedly, according to the article, Europe's incline in sprawl cannot be contributed to America, but instead was birthed of its own accord. The thing that piqued my interest about the article was the claim that Europe's public transit, which is very large when compared with America's, had little affect on the incline of sprawl and the usage of the automobile. Supposedly, European automobile usage has grown at a rate of three times that of America's since the 1970's. Even though the automobile preyed on Europe after it fed on America, public transit was not use against its onslaught.



The question then arises that if the use of public transit, a constantly suggested solution to sprawl, has not had an affect on the uprise of sprawl, how can it result in sprawl's downfall? A more recent article, Myth and Reality About European Sprawl, updated me on Europe's sprawl, and revealed that, just as is the case in America, sprawl is dying. There are many conclusions that can be made from all of this information, but I choose to see the most obvious one: the death of sprawl will only come about with a rise of awareness. Public transit cannot fight sprawl by itself, though it helps. The human population must see that their true enemy is not each other, but the car. Only once sprawl's automobile henchman is stifled, can the people win against suburbia.

-Andy Van Deventer