Alex MacLean is a photographer specializing in aerial work and has produced series well known for their visual impact. The aerial perspective offers a scalar dimension of the territory that is difficult to capture, obviously, at street level. The images of Las Vegas in this series, for example, are very illustrative and have the captivating power of the brutalism so characteristic of this city. This other series, dedicated to developments in the form of urban sprawl, is almost worth more than any theoretical treatise on urbanism.
One of the most impressive photos is this one that I share here (the original was published in the book Geo 2003). It is about downtown Houston and it is one of the best photos we can find to illustrate the effect on physical space (and its social, economic and environmental consequences) of such an inefficient occupation model. It is an extreme example, but it reflects well how the development of cities around the car leads to such absurd situations (click here to see the larger image).
I have never been able to find a reliable estimate of urban space dedicated to cars (road network and parking areas), but it would be interesting.
Lately I have come across other images of Hollywood and Atlanta.