Community features and urban sprawl: the case of the Chicago metropolitan region

Both local (endogenous) and regional (exogenous) factors contribute to urban sprawl. Local features include social-economic status, transportation accessibility, housing stock and land use regulations. The geographic location of a community is a key regional factor affecting new development. By using GIS techniques to separate local factors from regional ones, the research found that social-economic and housing stock-related factors are more important than spatial-related factors to a communityʹs attraction to new developments. Therefore, policy makers should pay more attention to broader policy issues instead of looking to transportation related policies in fighting against sprawl.