The idea of suburban and exurban sprawl presented by Sterba was quite an interesting historical relationship, so I did some further exploration on the topic.

“Data collected for the 2000 Census had revealed a demographic tipping point: For the first time an absolute majority of the American people lived not in cities, not on farms, but in an ever-expanding suburban and exurban sprawl in between. Never in history have so many people lived this way” (46). 

Today, suburbs are so incredibly common. If you ask someone where he or she is from, the answer is generalized to say the Philadelphia, New Haven, Rochester, Newark, etc. area, referring to a suburb of a major city, where his or her parents probably work.

“‘If you looked down at Connecticut from on high in the summer, what you’d see was mostly unbroken forest,’ he said. ‘If you did the same thing in late fall after the leaves have fallen from those trees, what you’d see was stockbrokers.'” (52).

This passage resonated with me because I am from Connecticut. I know that many people in the state live there for (slightly) more affordable living than New York City and for a reasonable commute into the city. If not New York City, many people will work in the few larger cities in the state and live just outside of the city. While this trend is a common one across the country, the passage seemed to sum up the state well.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/urban-sprawl/

The article above made me reflect back on the reading in Nature Wars as it discusses the irony of urban sprawl. The article notes that people living in developments may ask incredulously whether the adjacent farmland will be developed, which is quite ironic considering the land that these people live on was previously similar farmland. This makes me wonder whether people are really so unaware of how these idyllic suburban neighborhoods have developed across the land. People see their fulfilled American Dream in these homes, but it took a lot of destruction to get to that point. Although the article is a long one, it offers worthwhile commentary on urban sprawl.