GLOBAL SPRAWL PDF SOURCE
URBAN TRENDS: URBAN SPRAWL NOW A GLOBAL PROBLEM
Urban sprawl, a trend long associated with North American cities, is fast engulï¬ng many developing countries
where real estate developers are pushing a “world class lifestyleâ€.
In its report, State of the World Cities 2010/2011: Bridging the Urban Divide, UN-HABITAT says research
into urban sprawl in the Mexican city of Guadalajara is a good example: Between 1970 and 2000 the surface
area of the city grew 1.5 times faster than the population. The same is true for cities in China; Antananarivo,
the capital of Madagascar; Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest commercial hub and the capitals of Egypt and
Mexico, Cairo and Mexico City respectively.
In many developing countries, urban sprawl comprises two main, contrasting types of development in the
same city: one is characterized by large peri-urban areas with informal and illegal patterns of land use. This is
combined with a lack of infrastructure, public facilities and basic services, and often is accompanied by little or
no public transport and by inadequate access roads.
The other is a form of “suburban sprawl†in which residential zones for high- and middle-income groups and
highly-valued commercial and retail complexes are well-connected by individual rather than public transport.
