Spelling out the spread of sprawl

Atlanta has 702 square miles of sprawl, more than any other city or town in the country, according to SprawlCity.com, an online compendium of sprawl around the nation.

Next on the list of the most sprawling cities are Houston, with 638 square miles of sprawl; New York City-northeast New Jersey, with 541 square miles; Washington, with 450 square miles; and Philadelphia, with 412 square miles. Los Angeles ranks sixth on the list with 393 square miles.

The site defines sprawl as “the spreading out of a city and its suburbs over more and more rural land at the periphery of an urban area. This involves the conversion of open space into built-up, developed land.”