Urban Sprawl Pattern And Measurements:a Case Study Of Wuhan City

Urban sprawl is widely recognized as a rapid and uncoordinated growth at the urban fringe accompanied with low-density distribution. Known as an American urban form, sprawl has become nowadays universal phenomenon that affects urban morphology of cities not only in Developed countries but also countries in economic takeoff. Our current research focuses on the sprawl pattern and its measurement in a Chinese mega-city, namely Wuhan. In this research we pointed out that sprawl is a current phenomenon in Wuhan urban landscape and it pace nowadays is accelerating even it still less than the urban centers of Western and Eastern part of China Mainland. The urban expansion rate is actually low, but the urban expansion intensity is increasing and merit particular attention of deciders and developers.We find also that there is a correlation between low-densities and sprawl distribution in Wuhan city, but we mainly concentrate our investigation on urban zones with low-densities indicative of sprawl development phenomenon more than traditional suburban rural districts.We mainly focus our investigation on the relationship between population densities and sprawl location in our study area. The driving forces of sprawl development in Wuhan city result from endogenous and exogenous factors namely rapid economic growth consequence of the policy of openness, increased investment but also real-estate development. The type of sprawl has different forms including a continuous suburbanization of satellite towns at the margins of the city, but also urban redevelopment in the inner-city and traditional sprawl forms such as linear-ribbon development along express-ways, scattered\leapfrog development in industrial location and residential area. This study supports deeply the view that sprawl is a logical consequence of urban development despite the hardness of the debate between pro and anti-sprawl toward the world.By using GIS spatial function, this research describes the sprawl distribution pattern and its measurements in a chronological marker from1990to2010.The consequences of sprawl have not been forgotten in this study. To deal with sprawl phenomenon we suggest decision-makers to promote a compact city rather than a dispersed one. This research ends up with several remarks and recommendations indicative of how best to develop beneficial suburban sprawl by monitoring techniques for a future sustainable development of Wuhan city. An important conclusion is that sprawl is current phenomenon in Wuhan city, but its pace is accelerating, and it is of great importance to slow it or stop it for a well urban development. In this case to promote smart growth policy is a vital duty of Wuhan decision-makers for a bright well-being of its citizen.