Urban lesson to be learned from America

WITH the urban sprawl unabated, thousands of acres of farmland are giving way to concrete so to meet demands for housing and roads.

The EU authorities are becoming more concerned, given that by 2020 about 80% of Europeans will be living in urban areas: as a result, the demand for land in and around cities is becoming acute.

We can see cities such as Dublin and Cork expanding ever outwards into what was once virgin countryside, with new housing estates also springing up on the periphery of our towns.