More From Our Geographers

In Chicago: Farming on the Edge, geographer, Richard Green of Northern Illinois University, uses his skills to develop new knowledge about the community. Here, through the use of a geographic information system (GIS) he is able to analyze and understand where suburban development can have the most harmful effects. By combining information on soils, hydrology, and other data, he is able to see in spatial terms which farmland is most valuable for agriculture and where development is most likely to endanger that land.

Read more of our interview with Richard Green about suburban sprawl in the Chicago area.

And now we're looking at a new phase of this, we're seeing the trend repeat itself, the only difference is that it's moved further and further west. There's plenty of room to grow, there are no mountains blocking development, there are no oceans. Development continues to have a steady push westward and there seems to be no end. As long as there are new people moving to the region, people leaving the core for the edge, it's being accommodated, new development is rising to the challenge.