Characterising urban sprawl on a local scale with accessibility measures

Abstract

Although measuring sprawl based on morphology is conceptually simple and easy to implement, it is of limited use for deriving implications for urban planning. However, measuring sprawl based on accessibility enables us to observe the impact of development and establish a customised place‐based policy by examining the spatial variation within the region. This study aims to develop and operationalise accessibility‐based sprawl indicators. For this purpose, it employs two accessibility‐based sprawl indicator categories and develops their measures: accessibilities to urban functions and open space. From the case study, the findings reveal that the accessibility‐based sprawl index shows a clear difference from the morphology‐based ones, suggesting that the judgement on sprawl may be wrong if it is purely based on morphology.