N.M. He has studied Louisville s demographics in detail since 1993. OVER THE past half century two factors have shaped how our metro areas have developed sprawl and race. Sprawl and race are most clearly linked through the concentration of poverty.
Concentrated poverty creates push- pull factors.
It is not any alleged superior virtue of suburban officials that is responsible for suburban pull factors. Pull factors simply reflect the fact that most suburbs are low-poverty areas. Both push and pull factors are largely opposite sides of the same coin the concentration of poverty. Let s examine sprawl, race and the concentration of poverty for Greater Louisville. Urban Sprawl From 1950 to 1990, the urbanized population grew 88 percent in 157 major regions nationally while the amount of urbanized land expanded 255 percent.