From The Atlantic Cities — Quantifying the Cost of Sprawl

EMILY BADGER  Sprawl is expensive. It costs more money to pave a road and connect a sewer line to five families each living a block apart on wooded lots than to build public infrastructure for those same five families living in a condo. It costs more money (and takes more time and gas) to serve those families with garbage trucks, fire engines, and ambulances. And in return – aswe've previously written – those five sprawling single-family homes likely yield less in tax revenue per acre than the apartment building that could house our fictitious residents downtown. Read more: Quantifying the Cost of Sprawl - Emily Badger - The Atlantic Cities