Urban Sprawl in Europe Landscape, Land-Use Change and Policy

by Couch, Chris; Petschel-Held, Gerhard; Leontidou, Lila

• ISBN13: 9781405139175
• ISBN10: 140513917X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-31
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Urban sprawl is one of the most important types of land-use changes currently affecting Europe. It increasingly creates major impacts on the environment (via surface sealing, emissions by transport and ecosystem fragmentation); on the social structure of an area (by segregation, lifestyle changes and neglecting urban centres); and on the economy (via distributed production, land prices, and issues of scale). Urban Sprawl in Europe: landscapes, land-use change & policy explains the nature and dynamics of urban sprawl. The book is written in three parts. Part I considers contemporary definitions, theories and trends in European urban sprawl. In part II authors draw upon experiences from across Europe to consider urban sprawl from a number of perspectives: * Infrastructure-related sprawl, such as can be seen around Athens; * Sprawl in the post-socialist city, as typified by Warsaw, Leipzig and Ljubljana; * Decline and sprawl, where a comparative analysis of Liverpool and Leipzig shows that sprawl is not confined to expanding cities; * Sprawl based on the development of second homes as found in Sweden, Austria and elsewhere. In part III a formal qualitative model of sprawl is developed. Policies for the control of urban sprawl and the roles of different stakeholders are considered. Finally, a concluding chapter raises questions about the nature and dynamics of these new urban landscapes and their sustainability.

Author Biography

Chris Couch is Professor of Urban Planning; and Head of Planning and Housing Studies – Liverpool John Mores University

Dr Lila Leontidou is a Professor of Geography - Hellenic Open University and University of the Aegean

Dr Gerhard Petschel-Held was formerly based at the Institute of the Sociology of Spatial Planning - Vienna University of Technology

Table of Contents

Introduction : definitions, theories and methods of comparative analysis	p. 3
Sprawl in European cities : the comparative background	p. 39
Infrastructure-related urban sprawl : mega-events and hybrid peri-urban landscapes in southern Europe	p. 71
Sprawl in the post-socialist city : the changing economic and institutional context of central and eastern European cities	p. 102
Decline and sprawl : urban sprawl is not confined to expanding city regions	p. 136
No place like second home : weekends, holidays, retirement and urban sprawl	p. 163
Modelling urban sprawl : actors and mathematics	p. 183
Lines of defence : policies for the control of urban sprawl	p. 217
Urban sprawl and hybrid cityscapes in Europe : comparisons, theory construction and conclusions	p. 242
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