Abstract
The term "urban sprawl" is often used as a synonym for undesired low-density or otherwise unplanned urban spatial development. However, the precise definition and its desirability are debated. Remote sensing practitioners can contribute to our understanding of urban spatial development by measuring its spatial characteristics and dynamics and providing the data to planners and policy makers. By extension, such data can assist in defining sprawl and assessing its presence and intensity in a given metropolitan area. In this chapter, we review the extensive literature and controversial debate around the definition of urban sprawl, emphasizing common themes in definitions and those quantifiable spatial characteristics that would be of specific interest to remote sensing practitioners. The chapter shows that sprawl can be described by multiple quantitative measures, but that different sprawl measures may yield conflicting results. As a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon, we suggest that sprawl is best defined for a given case study, and quantified using a range of indicators specially selected to suit the researcher's definition of sprawl, spatial scale of analysis and specific characteristics of the study site.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Urban Remote Sensing |
| Subtitle of host publication | Monitoring, Synthesis and Modeling in the Urban Environment |
| Pages | 165-181 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9780470979563 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 13 Apr 2011 |
Keywords
- "urban sprawl" - for undesired low-density, or otherwise unplanned urban spatial development
- "urban sprawl" coined by Buttenheim and Cornick (1938) - latter half of 20th century
- Accessibility, between residential, commercial and business areas - sprawl, condition of poor accessibility
- Actual use of "sprawl" - in the United States in the 1950s, widely used from 1960s
- Historic forms of "urban sprawl" - massive migration from rural areas to industrial cities, transformation into centers of activities, in Europe
- Multiple definitions of sprawl - urban development patterns, and measuring quantifying patterns
- Spatial geometry - the largest group of sprawl measures
- Sprawl, pattern at a given time - and a process of change over time
- Sprawl, spatial pattern of urban development - characterized, by low density residential and commercial development
- Urban socioeconomic analyses - pluralistic approach, measuring urban sprawl
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Engineering
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences