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Architecture vocabulary · Urban Planning and Design

Urban sprawl

Meaning in architecture, with examples

nounCommon term

In architecture, urban sprawl means: The uncontrolled spread of low-density development, such as housing estates, shopping malls and roads, into the countryside around a city.

In Turkish: kentsel yayılma, kentsel saçaklanma

How it is used

A negative term used by planners and critics. Sprawl increases car dependence, infrastructure costs and the loss of farmland. Responses include compact cities, green belts and mixed-use development. 'Sprawl' is also used alone.

Example sentences

  1. The new metro line aims to reduce urban sprawl by encouraging housing near stations.

  2. Decades of urban sprawl have swallowed farmland on the edge of the city.

Common collocations

  • limit urban sprawl
  • suburban sprawl
  • green belt
  • compact city
  • densityHow much building, or how many homes or people, there is on a given area of land, often measured in dwellings or people per hectare.
  • walkabilityHow easy, safe and pleasant it is to walk around an area, depending on things like pavement width, shade, crossings, street life and distance to daily needs.
  • master planA long-term plan for developing a large area, such as a campus, neighbourhood or city district, showing land uses, buildings, streets, open spaces and phases.
  • mixed-useDescribing a building or area that combines different uses, such as housing, shops, offices and public facilities, instead of keeping them separate.

More terms: Urban Planning and Design

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