IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/lauspo/v113y2022ics0264837721006256.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modelling urban sprawl and assessing its costs in the planning process: A case study in Flanders, Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • Vermeiren, Karolien
  • Crols, Tomas
  • Uljee, Inge
  • De Nocker, Leo
  • Beckx, Carolien
  • Pisman, Ann
  • Broekx, Steven
  • Poelmans, Lien

Abstract

In scientific literature there is a wide agreement on the negative consequences of urban sprawl for some decades. Quantifying these negative consequences of urban sprawl can be extremely helpful for local and regional decision making. Numerous methods have been developed to quantify urban sprawl and its consequences and land use models have been used to study possible effects in the future. The results of these studies, however, do not always find their way to policy makers because they are often too abstract for them. In order to bridge this science-policy gap, this study proposes a participatory approach to make existing methods and models more fit for policy purposes. The study focuses on three policy questions: (1) how to quantify urban sprawl in a way that is more intuitive for policy makers to use in their communication, (2) how to quantify the costs of infrastructure and mobility related to urban sprawl and (3) how will these costs evolve towards the future? Three urban growth scenarios were simulated using a land use model and the outputs of the model were translated to an urban sprawl typology and corresponding costs for infrastructure and mobility. This allows to evaluate potential monetary savings of alternative urban development patterns. The results show that costs for infrastructure and mobility are much higher for patterns dominated by dispersed buildings and ribbon development than in more dense types of urban development in Flanders. The scenarios show that gradually bringing back urban growth could lead to annual savings of 246–383 million euros in terms of reduced investments and maintenance costs for infrastructure and annual savings of 1156–1965 million euros in terms of costs for mobility. Quantifying the potential savings of alternative scenarios of urban growth offers planners and policy makers insight into practical consequences of strategic decisions for development plans that are critical to implement sustainable urban development.

Suggested Citation

  • Vermeiren, Karolien & Crols, Tomas & Uljee, Inge & De Nocker, Leo & Beckx, Carolien & Pisman, Ann & Broekx, Steven & Poelmans, Lien, 2022. "Modelling urban sprawl and assessing its costs in the planning process: A case study in Flanders, Belgium," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:113:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721006256
    DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105902
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837721006256
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105902?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reid Ewing & Robert Cervero, 2010. "Travel and the Built Environment," Journal of the American Planning Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(3), pages 265-294.
    2. Edwin Buitelaar & Hans Leinfelder, 2020. "Public Design of Urban Sprawl: Governments and the Extension of the Urban Fabric in Flanders and the Netherlands," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(1), pages 46-57.
    3. Wheaton, William C., 1998. "Land Use and Density in Cities with Congestion," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 258-272, March.
    4. Michael P Johnson, 2001. "Environmental Impacts of Urban Sprawl: A Survey of the Literature and Proposed Research Agenda," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(4), pages 717-735, April.
    5. Cameron, I. & Lyons, T. J. & Kenworthy, J. R., 2004. "Trends in vehicle kilometres of travel in world cities, 1960-1990: underlying drivers and policy responses," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 287-298, July.
    6. Heng Sun & Wayne Forsythe & Nigel Waters, 2007. "Modeling Urban Land Use Change and Urban Sprawl: Calgary, Alberta, Canada," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 7(4), pages 353-376, December.
    7. Elisabeth Marquard & Stephan Bartke & Judith Gifreu i Font & Alois Humer & Arend Jonkman & Evelin Jürgenson & Naja Marot & Lien Poelmans & Blaž Repe & Robert Rybski & Christoph Schröter-Schlaack & Jar, 2020. "Land Consumption and Land Take: Enhancing Conceptual Clarity for Evaluating Spatial Governance in the EU Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-21, October.
    8. Matthew E. Kahn, 2000. "The environmental impact of suburbanization," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 569-586.
    9. Ahmed Mustafa & Jacques Teller, 2020. "Self-Reinforcing Processes Governing Urban Sprawl in Belgium: Evidence over Six Decades," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-14, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Boussauw, Kobe & Steenberghen, Thérèse & Vermander, Marijke & Fransen, Koos & Wittemans, Kelly, 2023. "Urban sprawl and home-delivered services: An exploratory analysis of spatial variations of cost and quality in Flanders (Belgium)," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    2. Radu-Matei Cocheci & Alexandru-Ionut Petrisor, 2023. "Assessing the Negative Effects of Suburbanization: The Urban Sprawl Restrictiveness Index in Romania’s Metropolitan Areas," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-20, April.
    3. Linlin Zhang & Xianfan Shu & Liang Zhang, 2023. "Urban Sprawl and Its Multidimensional and Multiscale Measurement," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, March.
    4. Anasua Chakraborty & Hichem Omrani & Jacques Teller, 2022. "A Comparative Analysis of Drivers Impacting Urban Densification for Cross Regional Scenarios in Brussels Metropolitan Area," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, December.
    5. Wang, Yi & Wang, Huiping, 2023. "Spatial spillover effect of urban sprawl on total factor energy ecological efficiency: Evidence from 272 cities in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniela Smiraglia & Luca Salvati & Gianluca Egidi & Rosanna Salvia & Antonio Giménez-Morera & Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir, 2021. "Toward a New Urban Cycle? A Closer Look to Sprawl, Demographic Transitions and the Environment in Europe," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-14, January.
    2. Bereitschaft, Bradley, 2020. "Gentrification and the evolution of commuting behavior within America's urban cores, 2000–2015," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Gao, Jiong & Ma, Shoufeng & Zou, Hongyang & Du, Huibin, 2023. "How does population agglomeration influence the adoption of new energy vehicles? Evidence from 290 cities in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    4. Hashem Dadashpoor & Fardis Salarian, 2020. "Urban sprawl on natural lands: analyzing and predicting the trend of land use changes and sprawl in Mazandaran city region, Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 593-614, February.
    5. Hirte, Georg & Rhee, Hyok-Joo, 2016. "Regulation versus Taxation," CEPIE Working Papers 05/16, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    6. Maciej Kruszyna & Przemysław Śleszyński & Jeremi Rychlewski, 2021. "Dependencies between Demographic Urbanization and the Agglomeration Road Traffic Volumes: Evidence from Poland," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-22, January.
    7. Kim, Jinwon, 2012. "Endogenous vehicle-type choices in a monocentric city," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 749-760.
    8. Andrew Perumal & David Timmons, 2017. "Contextual Density and US Automotive CO2 Emissions across the Rural–Urban Continuum," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 40(6), pages 590-615, November.
    9. Emine Coruh & Faruk Urak & Abdulbaki Bilgic & Steven T. Yen, 2022. "The role of household demographic factors in shaping transportation spending in Turkey," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 3485-3517, March.
    10. Wenjia Zhang & Ming Zhang, 2018. "Incorporating land use and pricing policies for reducing car dependence: Analytical framework and empirical evidence," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(13), pages 3012-3033, October.
    11. Miotti, Marco & Needell, Zachary A. & Jain, Rishee K., 2023. "The impact of urban form on daily mobility demand and energy use: Evidence from the United States," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 339(C).
    12. Davide Burgalassi & Tommaso Luzzati, 2015. "Urban spatial structure and environmental emissions: a survey of the literature and some empirical evidence for Italian NUTS-3 regions," Discussion Papers 2015/199, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    13. Zhongming Lu & Frank Southworth & John Crittenden & Ellen Dunhum-Jones, 2015. "Market potential for smart growth neighbourhoods in the USA: A latent class analysis on heterogeneous preference and choice," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(16), pages 3001-3017, December.
    14. Ranalli Flavia & Salvati Luca, 2015. "Land-Use Structure and Urbanization-Driven Land Fragmentation: Revisiting the Monocentric Model in a Sprawling Region," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 22(1), pages 61-80, June.
    15. Bento, Antonio M. & Cropper, Maureen L. & Mobarak, Ahmed Mushfiq & Vinha, Katja, 2003. "The impact of urban spatial structure on travel demand in the United States," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3007, The World Bank.
    16. Young, Mischa & Tanguay, Georges A. & Lachapelle, Ugo, 2016. "Transportation costs and urban sprawl in Canadian metropolitan areas," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 25-34.
    17. Jeremy Gabe & Spenser Robinson & Andrew Sanderford, 2022. "Willingness to Pay for Attributes of Location Efficiency," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 384-418, October.
    18. McGrath, Daniel T., 2005. "More evidence on the spatial scale of cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 1-10, July.
    19. Anna C McCreery, 2013. "Transportation Ecoefficiency: Quantitative Measurement of Urban Transportation Systems with Readily Available Data," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(8), pages 1995-2011, August.
    20. John Stanley & Janet Stanley, 2023. "Improving Appraisal Methodology for Land Use Transport Measures to Reduce Risk of Social Exclusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:113:y:2022:i:c:s0264837721006256. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joice Jiang (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.