Robert Bruegmann contributes an article to the June 2006 issue of American Enterprise which serves as a quick overview of his book Sprawl: A Compact History.
Why does sprawl come in for so much criticism? Bruegmann writes: “Worries about sprawl have become so vivid not because conditions are really as bad as the critics suggest, but precisely because conditions are so good. During boom years, expectations can easily run far ahead of any possibility of fulfilling them. A fast-rising economy often produces a revolution of expectations. I believe these soaring expectations are responsible for many contemporary panics.”
An excerpt from the book discusses the long history of sprawl.