USA Sprawl Festival continued: Columbus

[James Bond Agent 007]

I wuz bored so I decided to do another one of these.

You know the routine by now . . .

Link to the first thread in this series.
USA Sprawl Festival

Or, click on the following links to see just individual cities in that thread:

Kansas City
Some northern Denver suburbs
Albuquerque
Seattle
Las Vegas
Dallas-Fort Worth
Some western & southern Minneapolis suburbs
Orange County, California
Philadelphia
Tucson
Orlando
Northern Virginia/DC
Cleveland
Houston
Atlanta
Indianapolis
Long Island, New York
Jacksonville
Boston

And the 2nd round ones:

Phoenix-East
Phoenix-South
Phoenix-North
Phoenix-West
Portland
Silicon Valley
Los Angeles
San Bernardino County
San Diego - south
San Diego - north
Buffalo
Broward County, Florida
Dallas-Fort Worth II
Riverside County, California
Denver - south suburbs
Orange County II
Bergen and Passaic Counties, New Jersey
Milwaukee

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COLUMBUS, OHIO





Mall, with outparcels. Is that an Applebees I see?




Business park.


Find the Barnes & Noble.


Nearby, an office park. Lots of parking.


Some un-sprawl, for comparison.


Back to the sprawl.






Semi-sprawl.




A grid, but sprawl.




Looks like a dead shopping center.


Nearby, expanding the mall.




Ultra-sprawl.


Looks like a neotraditional development under construction.


Lakeside retreats.




Fore!






Not sprawl. Another one for comparison purposes.


I just felt like putting this here for the heck of it.


At least it's got lots of trees.


Freeway industry.


Megachurch. I think.


Wal-Mart.


Cul-de-sacs.

[crisp444]

I don't mind the denser ones and the ones with lots of trees, but the treeless sprawl of just houses and grass is absolutely appalling (pictures 1 and 13). Still, at least these houses are of modest size and have some land - the absolute worst picture you have ever posted is one of suburban Dallas with mini-mansions, brown grass, and no trees. I just don't understand how people can buy such nice homes without paying money to landscape them properly! Picture #4 is an example of a fairly attractive, albeit sprawling, middle class suburban neighborhood.

PS - that is an enormous shopping center in which Walmart is located... are most Walmarts that big? (I have only visited one in person)

[James Bond Agent 007]

^
A lot of the treeless ones are developments built on farm land rather than in woods. The newer ones of these will look bare for quite some time until the landscaping grows older.

[crisp444]

Thanks for the explanation - at least forests don't have to be cleared in order to build the new homes. Another thing I notice about your Midtwestern US photos is that very few of the homes are fenced or walled, even when the houses are built very close to one another. I know that most suburbs here in the US (save some in California and Florida) rarely have gates/walls in the front of the yard, but I am surprised to see that the land between the homes is almost never separated. It gives the illusion that these suburbs are like parkland.. more communal than private. Is this a common value in that part of the country? I feel it adds to monotony, but the space does feel more "wide open" than California/Florida/LatinAmerican/European suburbs.

[hydrobond]

Just out of curiosity, what is wrong with this one?


I see fairly dense housing on the left and better than average retail on the right. Am I missing something?

[James Bond Agent 007]

^
It's not "sprawl" but it's still "suburban." A lot of these I stick in here just for the heck of it even though they might not actually be real "sprawl."

[Buckeye Native 001]

Anyone familiar with Columbus recognize parts of Hilliard? I couldn't really tell, but it looks like Polaris Mall made it into some of those shots?

[jgibson4]

Yeah, I recognize some of those Hilliard shots, theres a couple from Worthington too. And of course Easton, which is all lit up now for the holidays, and looks amazing.

[LMich]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

^
It's not "sprawl" but it's still "suburban." A lot of these I stick in here just for the heck of it even though they might not actually be real "sprawl."

It's most definitely sprawl (i.e. autocentric). Sprawl, ironically, can be dense.

Crisp, I never really paid attention to that, but much there is a lot of sprawl (at least in my area), where the backyards are completely open with no fences. I never really thought it was unusal.

[ColDayMan]

Yeah, lots of Hilliard shots in there.

[crisp444]

LMich, it's just something different that I am not accustomed to seeing. I thought it was standard in American suburbia to have the backyard fenced (at the very least) and many times the side yard as well. The gate/wall in the front is not very "American" so I didn't really expect to see that. The miles and miles of green grass in the Midwest without fences gives the illusion that you live in a park and that the space is communal to everyone.. which must be very cool for children who want to play baseball and ride bikes. Here are some pictures of what I am accustomed to seeing - which is a huge contrast with these Columbus pictures.

Inner/middle suburban area

Outer suburban area

Inner suburban area

[LMich]

Crisp,

Take a look at this very recent article in my local paper that deals with a new development about the idea you speak of:

Developers to preserve woods for new condos

Project expected to net Delhi Township $1 million in taxes

December 6, 2006

By Will Kangas
Special to the State Journal

DELHI TWP. - Evergreen Village Subdivision will live up to its name, according to township officials.

The newly approved plans include a large open, wooded permanent space that everyone in the condominium-style development can use.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...02/CONTACTUS01

[A&Fcolumbus]

These pictures seem to be mostly the surrounding 270 outerbelt.

These are in the far reaching newly developed areas of the Columbus city limits and suburbs. The newer development in these areas is usually desnse sprawl. Columbus' doesn't develop as much sprawly sprawl, becasue land values closer to the innercity are too high to do so. The developer would get less profit.

[Wheelingman04]

Originally Posted by ColDayMan

Yeah, lots of Hilliard shots in there.

My favorite suburb.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Speaking of the Midwest, Detroit is next, in case anyone's interested.

Windows Live Local only has coverage of Detroit's western suburbs, but that should be good enough.