Urban_Sprawl

Urban Sprawl As I stroll the streets of Downtown Davenport, to investigate the latest flood, I couldn’t help but notice a theme that resonated through most of the buildings, streets, and housing around that area: poverty. I toured the area known as the Gold Coast of Davenport, a historic neighborhood of grand Victorian houses that is directly north of Downtown Davenport, and I was saddened to see an area that has been forgotten. Although attempts have been made to restore many homes, most of what was once examples of the splendor of architecture and the homes of the elite of this city have now been abandoned of hope, overlooked as viable housing and left to deteriorate. Then I drive to Super-target. On my way I see structures such as car washes, fast-food restaurants and parking lots claiming what used to be farmland. What once was rich soil and grasslands has now been replaced by offensive architecture, overrun by chain stores… and I see no end in sight. In this paper, I will explore the forces that have driven the expansion of cities like Davenport across the United States, investigate the consequences of these augmentations, and inform urban, sprawl, farmland, growth, development, been, cities, new, housing, states, federal, suburbs, government, areas, act, transportation, population, must, made, land, it’s, economic, years, structures, soil, programs, planning, people, increased, growing, fight, downtown, davenport, city, bear