Social Sustainability
Urban Sprawl
Definition
Urban sprawl is the expansion of urban areas through low-density, segregated-use, disconnected development at the fringe — subdivisions, strip retail and business parks reachable only by car. Measured by density, decentralisation and land consumption per capita (OECD indicators), sprawl drives the core urban sustainability failures: rising transport emissions, infrastructure costs that grow faster than population, farmland and habitat loss, and social isolation; urban land cover grows far faster than urban population globally.
References
This reference provides supporting context for how “Urban Sprawl” is defined and used.
Source imported for editorial provenance.
Overview
How it is used
The concept structures metropolitan growth management, land consumption monitoring (SDG 11. 3. 1), transport planning and farmland protection policy.
Why it matters
Sprawl is the physical form of the high-carbon lifestyle; cities cannot decarbonise while continuing to build it.