Measuring Urban Sprawl Indices at Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ) Level

Abstract

High rates of land use change causing unsustainable development have attracted the attention of policy and planning and raised the need to understand the factors behind it. Sprawl occurs because of the residents’ preference to live in suburbs, low-cost auto travel, technological innovations, the aspiration for urbanized-automobile dependent lifestyle, the disappearance of rural agricultural land, and spatial fragmentation. Thus, it induces sustainability challenges and leads to excessive commuting and congestion. There is a greater necessity to quantify urban sprawl at Traffic Analysis Zone level so that transportation and land use planners can identify potential sprawling TAZ and can promote/develop sustainable strategies for future land use planning. In this study, sprawling indices at TAZ level were derived with and without incorporating centering effect and compared the scores of sprawling TAZs in 2010 to the sprawling TAZs for 2000. The main goal was to propose a methodology for determining potential sprawling TAZs and to identify locations responsible for sprawl in a case study city. The results can be a substantial input in planning and decision-making process.