The fight against sprawl has become a rallying
cry for environmental activists frustrated by
traffic congestion and loss of open land.
Increasingly, groups fighting sprawl portray
home construction in a harsh light. In a new
book, Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl, architects
Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
write, "As you creep along a highway that was
widened just three years ago, you pass that awful
new billboard: 'Coming Soon: New Homes!'
Already the bulldozers are plowing down pine
trees, and a thin layer of mud is oozing onto the
roadway." Such images depict home building as
an environmental affront, like factory smoke.
"We can do something to manage growth now,"
says Sandy Bahr, conservation