Even though we aren't growing much in Northeast Ohio, we are consuming land at a rapid rate as new communities are developed at the edges of the metropolitan area. This outward expansion of development occurs gradually, subdivision by subdivision, so it's often hard to appreciate the magnitude of the change.

The sequence of maps below gives one a better sense of this change. They are maps of the Ohio Western Reserve (northern Ohio from the Pennsylvania line to about Sandusky). The red shows areas that are considered developed — in 1980, 2000, and projected to the year 2020.

It's sobering to think about the regional implications of such sprawling development.

Developed c.1980

Developed c.2000

Developed c. 2020

This analysis was conducted for EcoCity Cleveland by the Northern Ohio Data and Information Service (NODIS) at Cleveland State University. Funding was provided by the Jean Thomas Lambert Foundation.