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Measuring and Assessing Urban Sprawl: What are the Remaining Options for Future Settlement Development in Switzerland for 2030?

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Abstract

Transformation of land use in and around European cities is proceeding as fast as never before, and urban sprawl is a reality in Europe. This process is coming along with significant landscape changes that can even lead to the loss of landscape identity. Is it possible to find indications of which regions are prone to urban sprawl in order to curtail undesired future settlement developments in time? To answer this question we used settlement development scenarios for Switzerland, and analysed their spatial implications using a set of four metrics, which allow for comparing the degree of urban sprawl in different regions. Two aspects were explored: (1) by how much settlement development could potentially increase in Switzerland, and (2) the suitability of the metrics as indicators for characterizing and assessing the development of urban sprawl. The results show that overall in Switzerland the urban permeation and dispersion of settlement areas is likely to increase (in all scenarios), but to different degrees. However, the results differ very much between the various types of settlement and between the cantons, and even a decrease in urban dispersion is possible. In combination with scenarios of settlement growth, the metrics provide useful evidence on regional characteristics such as the overall pressure of settlement development and likely transformations of the respective settlement types that should be taken into account in spatial development concepts. There is a need for calibration of the indicators on a regional level to define specific thresholds to limit urban sprawl.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Michael Wenzlaff for his generous programming work. Further we thank the research team members René Bertiller, Manfred Perlik, Jolanda Hofschreuder, Marco Keiner and Prof. Willy A. Schmid for their significant contributions to developing the scenarios and their useful thoughts and comments on this article. We thank two reviewers for their careful comments on the manuscript. Special thanks go to the Spatial Planning Agencies of all 26 Swiss cantons for providing the permission to use the harmonised GIS-database of the designated building zones of Switzerland (Swiss Federal Office for Spatial Development ARE). This work is part of the two projects “Scenarios for sustainable development of the built environment in Switzerland 2005–2030” and “Degree of urban sprawl in Switzerland: Quantitative analysis 1940–2002 and implications for regional planning”, which were funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation’s National Research Programme (NRP 54) “Sustainable Development of the Built Environment" (http://www.nfp54.ch). We thank the Swiss National Science Foundation and the NRP 54’s steering committee, especially Dr. Stefan Husi, for making this collaboration possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Spatial and Landscape Planning (IRL), Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems (PLUS), ETH Zurich, HIL H 52.2, CH-8093, Zurich, Switzerland

    Ulrike Wissen Hayek

  2. Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University Montréal, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., Suite H1255, Montréal, Québec, H3G 1M8, Canada

    Jochen A. G. Jaeger

  3. Die Geographen Schwick+Spichtig, Glasmalergasse 5, CH-8004, Zurich, Switzerland

    Christian Schwick

  4. CEAT, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), BP 3232, (Bâtiment BP), Station 16, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Alain Jarne & Martin Schuler

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  1. Ulrike Wissen Hayek
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  2. Jochen A. G. Jaeger
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Correspondence to Ulrike Wissen Hayek.

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Wissen Hayek, U., Jaeger, J.A.G., Schwick, C. et al. Measuring and Assessing Urban Sprawl: What are the Remaining Options for Future Settlement Development in Switzerland for 2030?. Appl. Spatial Analysis 4, 249–279 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-010-9055-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-010-9055-3

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