Capturing Sprawl

A recent article featured on CNN.com's home page shows pictures taken by Christoph Gielen, a German photographer, of sprawl in America. He says that "sprawl is a really careless use of new land. I want people who look at my photos to start a reconsideration of how they live through art." These images capture just how much land we are using up for so few people. We can also see how they lack the functionality of a simple street grid. Some will look at these photos and argue that these are example of American freedom, that we are free to create whatever kind of neighborhoods we wish to live in. Gielen, however, argues that these places are"so ironic because the United States touts itself as a place of limitless freedoms and the land of individuality and individual expression, but the lived experience is like a monoculture. It's weird. It's total sameness."

To see Gielen's photos, check out the article.