Abstract
Urban sprawl is widely acknowledged as an environmental and socio-economic challenge worldwide. This study examines urban sprawl in Belgium over six decades from 1950 to 2010. We assume that sprawl is a self-reinforcing process, i.e., sprawl is fueling further sprawl over time. The main objective of this study is to examine this assumption. We measure urban sprawl at four different levels in this study: country, regions, municipalities, and 1-km2 cells. Three sprawl indices are employed: the degree of urban dispersion, degree of urban permeation of the landscape, and built-up land uptake per capita. These three indices consider both the growth of built-up areas and population density to measure the magnitude of sprawl. The drivers of urban sprawl have been analyzed at a 1-km2 level. The examined drivers are previous urban dispersion patterns, distance to urban cores, elevation, and slope degree by means of linear regression. Urban sprawl significantly increased between 1950 and 1980, whereas its increase was more moderate between 1980 and 2010. Urban dispersion and permeation strongly affect the Brussels and Flanders regions. The results show that the increase in the degree of dispersion is locally driven by previous values of dispersion; i.e., it provides an adequate milieu for further dispersion. Therefore, our conclusion is that urban sprawl in Belgium tends to be a self-reinforcing process.
Highlights
Urban sprawl represents one of the most vexing challenges facing the sustainability agenda in several countries; these countries try to control sprawl by turning to urban planning that limits the use of automobiles and by promoting high-density development [1]
This paper explored the long-term evolution of urban sprawl in Belgium
According to the European Environment Agency report, number 11/2016, entitled “Urban sprawl in Europe”, Belgium is the EU country most affected by sprawl
Summary
Urban sprawl represents one of the most vexing challenges facing the sustainability agenda in several countries; these countries try to control sprawl by turning to urban planning that limits the use of automobiles and by promoting high-density development [1]. Ewing et al [3] defined sprawl as “as low-density development with residential, shopping, and office areas that are rigidly segregated; a lack of thriving activity centers; and limited choices in travel routes”. Hennig et al [6] identified the regions of highest and lowest levels of urban sprawl in Europe and proposed a European de-sprawling strategy to limit sprawl. They found that sprawl highly impacted regions in the west and center of Europe as well as along the Mediterranean coast. Other studies measured urban sprawl and/or its drivers in the USA [8,9], Latin America [10,11,12], China [13,14], and Africa [15,16]
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