Negative Impact of Urban Spawl

As sprawl has continued its current pace in the nation, these observable phenomena have correspondingly occurred:

• Conversion of significant amounts of forests, crop land and pasture land into developed land
• Decrease in the amount of farmland acreage
• Depression in farm economies and increased strain on agricultural productivity
• Increased concentration of livestock animals in their grazing/feeding range, which increases disease and sanitation problems
• Degradation of natural wildlife habitats, and reduction of food sources for wildlife
• Increase of occurrences of wildlife invading human spaces, being nuisances in neighborhoods, and being hazards on highways
• Increase in the costs of public services in towns and villages (e.g. public transportation, municipal water and sewage systems, landscaping, maintenance), as these services are required to extend to a much wider geographical radius
• Increased local tax rates in sprawled areas, and increased strains on local budgets
• Increase in the number of low-density, automobile-dependent communities Increase in automobile pollution, particularly in formerly unpolluted areas.

satellite image of Johor and its surrounding area in 1988.1997, and 2005 ( left to right )

reference ： Cornell University, Department of Development Sociology