How is it a signature of urban environments? I moved from the countryside to a city a few months ago and have already made more friends than I did in years in the country.
Urban sprawl is a feature of _suburban_ expansion at low density. It's exactly the opposite of a dense, connected urban environment. (1)
My kids spend a lot of time at the neighborhood park, as one example. It's within walking distance and we see a ton of families there. Density (with infrastructure like parks) creates opportunities for connection.
(1) from the Wikipedia article you cited, "Reid Ewing has shown that sprawl has typically been characterized as urban developments exhibiting at least one of the following characteristics: low-density or single-use development, strip development, scattered development, and/or leapfrog development (areas of development interspersed with vacant land)"
Right. Maybe I lost context, urban sprawl results in lack of independent mobility. Like you pointed out I use my local park frequently, see you there :)