Highways and Land Development Near Minnesota's Regional Centers

Project summary:

This task measures and analyzes low-density suburban residential development after 1970 within commuting ranges of Minnesota's smaller metro areas-specifically exurban development beyond built-up suburban edges. We anticipate that low-density development patterns similar to those occurring throughout the 24-county Minneapolis-St. Paul Ml-WI metro area have been duplicated but at reduced ranges and intensities around the state's three levels of Regional Trade Centers (e.g., Level 1: Rochester, Duluth-Superior, etc.; Level 2: Bemidji, New Ulm, Ribbing, etc.; Level 3: International Falls, Montevideo, etc.). We measure rates of sprawl around urban job centers and explore the idea that rates may be diminishing for several demographic, economic and geographic reasons. For example, as the radius of a commute shed expands at an arithmetic rate, the amount of area added to the commute shed expands at a geometric rate.