Natural Sprawl

Sprawling and leapfrogging suburbs, as opposed to compact central cities, appear peaceful, clean, and safe. They appear happy and healthy. On the other hand, suburbs look and feel fake, dull, and alienating. Which one is happier and healthier, sprawling or compact areas? I discuss pros and cons of sprawling and compact counties drawing on social and natural sciences. I also perform a simple quantitative exerciseI regress several wellbeing/health measures on sprawl and density at county level. Sprawl is measured with Ewing's index. Sprawling and low-density counties are healthier in terms of mentally and physically healthy days than non-sprawling counties, controlling for many predictors of health. I interpret it as the advantage of low-density living close to nature. Given rather unaesthetic nature of American suburbia, I argue that if we left more nature in suburbs, people living there would be even happier.