Apropos of nothing, here's what I know about sprawl in the area. To get from the airport to the space center, I caught a cab. Patricia R. the cab driver had lived in the Houston area her whole life. She was retired from being a secretary, so I guess her life had been going on for a while. She pointed out new developments out in the Clear Lake area. The area used to be undeveloped. "You would just come out here to hunt." But now it's full of strip malls, houses, and Space Center Houston.