I recently read an article on this site regarding the idea of "out before up", which basically stated that you want to develop out before you go up. I am confused. Sprawl is not really a good thing, in my opinion, but on the other hand is the question of necessity for office space.

My question is if this concept is used, and if so, when?

I'd really like to see that article. You mind posting it in this thread?

It really depends on the context. For most large corporations, it's business policy to build out before up due to economics. For large cities, it's land use policy to encourage building up over out due to scarce land. B/c of this scenario, with conflicing interests of corporation and large cities, edge cities have become the trend. Some say that downtowns are dead and edge cities are the future. Currently, at least in US, downtown development is mostly residential and retail, not office space.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=142524

Not really an article but a thread.

Thanks for the feedback. Would an edge city be something of an industrialized suburb?

Basically, it's a business district in the suburbs scaled to the automobile rather than the human. For example, Tyson's Corner (DC), Buckhead (Atlanta), Galleria (Houston), Las Colinas (Dallas), South Park (Charlotte), etc. They're common in post-WWII US cities. From what I understand, edge cities exist in Europe and throughout the world. I have little knowledge on them, tho.

If you're really interested, you should pick up Joel Garreau's book, Edge City - Life on the New Frontier (1991). You should be able to find it in London, at any large bookstore or library.

Read this and visit the external links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Garreau