The City Comforts blog asks, What’s the proper question? with respect to sprawl. I enjoyed Will Cox’s comment:
People drive across the parking lot from Wal-Mart to Applebee’s because its dangerous to walk. They drive across the parking lot from Wal-Mart to Applebee’s because there are no sidewalks. They drive between each individual store’s immediately adjacent parking lot because it is dangerous to walk. They drive between each individual store’s immediately adjacent parking lot because there are no sidewalks.There are no sidewalks because the zoning regulations did not require them. There are multiple, disconnected parking lots because the zoning regulations did require them.
This is not an economic problem.