Urban Sprawl and Its Multidimensional and Multiscale Measurement

Abstract

The evaluation and dynamic monitoring of urban sprawl is essential to the sustainable development of cities and therefore attracts enthusiasm from numerous scholars. This study conducted a thorough review of the literature on the multidimensional and multiscale measurement of urban sprawl. Firstly, it provides a definition based on the common characteristics of urban sprawl to contribute to a relatively uniform definition and judging criteria. Secondly, indicators of growth, morphology, density, land use mixture, and accessibility dimensions are sorted out, as well as dimensions that are not widely operationalized but make sense. Thirdly, the review spotlights single-dimensional measures in large-sample comparative studies and booming comparative studies based on multidimensional measures. Furthermore, another focus lies on different spatiotemporal combinations of temporal and spatial scales for the measurement. Overall, there are large gaps in comparative studies on the multidimensional measurement of urban sprawl under multiple spatiotemporal scales. In particular, few micro-scale studies focus on inner-city units, and few measure urban sprawl at multiple scales simultaneously. Finally, the challenges and future of multidimensional and multiscale measurements are discussed: relativity and uncertainty of sprawl criteria; strong dependence on the choice of spatiotemporal scales; comparability of sprawl measurements that remains to be improved; the necessity of long-term international cooperation on the measurement of urban sprawl at the global and regional levels. The article appeals for more multidimensional and multiscale urban sprawl measurement studies based on multi-case comparisons in the future, especially in the developing context.