The integrated sprawl index: measuring the urban landscape in Israel

Abstract

Urban sprawl in Israel began two decades ago, but has yet to be empirically measured or characterized. Major processes that influenced sprawl in Israel were the rise in standard of living, consumer preference for low-density and single-family housing in the suburbs, and the arrival of nearly one million immigrants from the former USSR during the 1990s. All these processes led to a massive transformation of agricultural land into urban land-uses all over the country and provide some evidence that sprawl is taking place as a pattern of development. This study attempt to measure and analyze urban sprawl in Israel, based on a large sample of urban settlements. Higher sprawl rates were found to correlate significantly with higher population and land-consumption growth rates, which implies a higher consumer preference to reside in more sprawling patterns. Variables that are linked with sprawl in Western countries were usually found to be significant in Israel, as well; however, unlike other Western countries, urban sprawl in Israel is rather spatially dispersed, and not necessarily found on the edges of metropolitan areas.