Pros And Cons Of Suburban Living

Urban Living vs Suburban Living
The perception of the areas we live in, are of major importance to the well being of humans because the areas we choose to live in may very well affect our lifestyle. There are pros and cons to living anywhere in the United States and the most prominent factors are suburban and urban areas. Suburban areas contain more open land, and forests which are crucial factors in our environment, whereas urban areas contain more job opportunities and opportunities for investments, which result in higher payments. The factors associated with urbanization are buildings, factories, and huge amounts of pollution, whereas suburban areas contain more farms, plantations, and crops. Researchers are still debating whether urban

areas are “better” than rural areas.
Suburban Sprawl and Urban Sprawl
Urban areas, also known as suburban towns, are regions that generally surround the city. Most urbanized areas consist of little to no agriculture since urban areas are more developed, which means there are more factories, large buildings, roads, and railways. Many urban areas are called metropolitan areas, also known as "greater," such as Greater Philadelphia. Suburban areas, however, is the complete opposite; they are known as the “country side” or less developed regions. There are large amounts of agricultural land and much more space for farming (National Geographic Education).
Sprawl dates back to the late 1800s when suburbs emerged outside of cities on the east coast of the United States. This occurs when people leave urbanized areas in favor of the suburbs or vice versa. Urban sprawl is the dispersion from the city into the suburbs, whereas suburban sprawl is the dispersion from the suburbs into the city (SprawlCity). There are many reasons as to why people move from urban and suburban areas such as better education, large land, and cheaper homes. In the United States, from 1950 to 1990’s, the suburban population has increased more than 200 percent, which increased the area five times its original size. The higher the population growth, the larger the area expansion will be. However, between 1999 and 2004, the percentage of the United States population living in urban areas increased from 7% to 75%. This is due to Urban sprawl can either be a great thing for a family or the downfall of the environment (Carey 564-581).
Pollution
Though sprawl may be driven by economic and employment, it can also be influenced by the environment.

Pollutants are contaminants that enter and affect the natural environment which can cause negative changes. There are two main types of pollution, air and water, which occur from different sources and have different effects. Air pollution is the main cause of “dirty air” in the United States. Suburban areas suffer from outdoor air pollutants as well as indoor air pollutants. Indoor air pollutants are caused by the burning of coal and wood, which are used for heating. Outdoor air pollutants are caused by chimneys, in which smoke is released into the air, and crop fertilizers, which are generally used in rural areas. The impact air pollution has on humans are large cases of health defects in rural areas: such as cancer, tuberculosis, heart diseases, and low birth weights. J.P Majra, author of “Air Quality In Rural Areas” states that, “This leads various health problems, mainly affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular system...” (Majra, 2). This shows that if the United States alone uses this much fertilizer, in which affects our health, imagine how much the world will be affected. Kirk Smith, professor of environmental health sciences at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health states that ”nearly 10% of all lost-life years worldwide” has been due to air pollution (COEH

2006).
Water pollution can occur in many ways; the main reasons for water pollution are storm water and runoff in urban areas. Many factories were built near areas with a body of water in order for waste to be easily discharged. Sediment concentrations in urban runoff are also problematic due to increased erosion of previous construction and sediment. This affects lakes, rivers, and even ground water. Lost of water clarity, and even danger the aquatic animals and their habitats are the effects of water pollution. Urban runoff may also cause bodies of water to deplete oxygen levels in water, which can cause the death of fish and excessive odors. This affects humans because we get our drinking water from these nearby rivers and lakes. Although suburban areas contain less industrialization, they tend to have a higher percentage of water pollution than urban areas. Mining, logging, and managing crops, in rural areas can also impact water quality. Agricultural sources such as fertilizers and chemicals can interfere with water quality. Fertilizer and pesticides are used for rapid growth of vegetation and a way to keep insects from eating the food that is supposed to grow. These chemicals will eventually percolate through the soil, contaminating the groundwater and pose a threat to human health. Pollution has been an uncontrollable factor in our environment with nearly fifty percent of Americans living in polluted areas (APEC WATER).

Health
Urban areas contain people with a lower socioeconomic status, who are less likely to have health insurance. For this reason, these minorities face the disadvantages of quality care and disproportionate use of emergency systems. Another commonly represented population in cities are undocumented immigrants and transient populations. The higher percentage, which is currently 16%, of individuals without health insurance creates a strain on health systems (The Uninsured in Texas 2014). This often leads to differences in health care privileges, as well as a double healthcare system where insured individuals have access to routine health care, whereas transient only have access to “safety-net” emergency room care. But because urban areas are much smaller and close together, it makes traveling to medical offices easier. There are also many more options in urban areas because they are much more developed. Suburban residents have limited access to health care and they require more effort by primary care physicians. In underdeveloped areas, many suburban individuals travel long distances for primary medical care. Furthermore, some rural areas have a higher proportion of uninsured and individually insured residents than urban areas (Kletke 261-169). According to Rural Health Web, in the United States approximately 90% of physicians are located in urban areas, while the other 10% occupies suburban areas. This creates difficulty in having substantial healthcare because they do not have enough physicians, which forces them to travel a greater distance to find one.
Constant trends of overweight and obesity have inspired researchers to focus on the construction of these areas and the amount of physical activity that is involved.

An article published by the Journal of Rural Health established that 40% of adults living in rural areas are obese compared to the 33% of adults living in urban areas due to the design and formation of urban and suburban areas. Many features of suburban development, such as the lack of street connectivity and the lack of sidewalks are associated with decreased physical activity. An assistant professor of preventive medicine and public health of the University of Kansas Medical Center, Christie Befort, states that "Access is often about travel time in a rural area, but it can also be that there's no place to go -- literal physical isolation.” The lack of community parks results in a drastic difference of physical activity between suburban and urban residents. All community recreational centers are resources for physical activity while also being publicly provided. Urban areas contain more parks than suburban areas, though most are unused. In 2005, a total of 6,545 park visitors were observed and results show that rural parks had more frequent visits, though they were less active. The differences suggest that findings from park and physical activity studies in urban areas should not be considered representative of their rural

counterparts.
An experiment that was conducted in Turkey by EUROFIT, observed the physical health of 98 rural children and 74 suburban children. Results revealed that children in suburban areas were very active and preferred to play sports, unlike urban children who prefered to play video games. 35% of urban children were not involved in any physical activities, while suburban children had a percentage of 30. This experiment also calculated the amount of television that were watched by the children. Urban children watched a total of 13 hours or more television per week. So because of how inactive urban children were, this resulted in higher body mass and thicker skinfolds. In contrary to rural children, flexibility and muscle endurance were significantly higher due to the amount of physical activity (Ozdurenc 2005).