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Urban sprawl: Do its financial and economic benefits outweigh its costs for local governments?

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Abstract

International literature on urban sprawl mainly emphasizes its environmental, social, and economic effects on urban areas. Many studies have dealt with the environmental effects of urban sprawl. However, the financial and economic consequences of this phenomenon are not yet clear. This study seeks to find the financial and economic consequences of urban sprawl on urban management. For this purpose, it uses an interpretive approach and a systematic Meta-synthesis method. Meta-synthesis is the systematic review and integration of findings from qualitative studies to form a new interpretation of the research field. The statistical population is the findings of other researchers in the field of urban sprawl in the period 1970–2022. The data were encoded and interpreted using MAXQDA software. MAXQDA is a qualitative research tool that can be used for coding and analyzing source materials. The results show that the financial and economic benefits of urban sprawl fall into seven categories: “real estate’s income; business, sales and services; government grants and subsidies; reduction in security costs; reduction in the cost of environment and urban services; reduction in physical costs and urban development; and reduction in the cost of transportation and traffic. But the costs of urban sprawl include "social and cultural costs; transportation and traffic costs; physical and urban development costs; environmental and urban services costs; current and administrative services costs; security and emergency services costs". Most researchers have acknowledged that the sprawl costs far more than the financial and economic benefits to the city, with most of the costs being borne by the environment and urban services, as well as transportation and traffic. Regarding the benefits of urban sprawl, researchers have emphasized the benefits of real estate. In many cities around the world, including cities in developing countries, extensive urban land ownership, and physical assets mean that taxes and charges on them can significantly increase public revenues, which can continue to increase as urban productivity increases. It seems that until there is not a fundamental change in the financial structure of urban management; the growth of urban sprawl or expansion is inevitable.

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  1. Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Mehran Hajilou, Abolfazl Meshkini & Safar Ghaedrahmati

  2. Department of Management and Accounting, Faculty of Humanities, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Mirehei

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Hajilou, M., Meshkini, A., Mirehei, M. et al. Urban sprawl: Do its financial and economic benefits outweigh its costs for local governments?. GeoJournal 88, 2325–2343 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10747-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-022-10747-9

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