Urban Sprawl: The Most Visible Impact on Growing Populations

Population growth has large and immediate consequences for people and communities by increasing congestion, making housing unaffordable, increasing debt, and degrading the environment of the surrounding area. Urban sprawl possibly has the most visible impact on growing populations. Much urban expansion in Canada and most countries takes place on farmland, thus removing a critical resource from use while increasing the number of people that must be fed. Densification has the large downside of depriving Canadians of access to nature and green space. Ontario is losing farmland faster than any other province, at a rate of about 319 acres per day.