Assessment of urban development pattern and urban sprawl using Shannon’s entropy: A case study of Konya (Turkey)

Abstract

Defined as the uncontrolled expansion of cities toward their periphery, urban sprawl emerges during urban developments where the urban area grows more than the population increase. Furthermore, land-related demands emerge for the needs regarding settlement and infrastructure due to certain reasons such as the increase in the urban population, industrialization and lifestyle changes. As these demands are met through irregular area use, cities expand toward their peripheral areas more than necessary. Moreover, natural resources and agricultural areas are damaged, infrastructure and transportation costs increase, urban functions get separated, and social and financial issues occur. The problem of urban sprawl is one of the major issues suffered by the global cities in the last decades. For Turkey where approximately 75% of the population live in cities, examining the urban developments and specifying the rate of urban sprawl is critical. This study aimed to assess the case study of urban development and sprawl in Konya (Turkey). It first examined the population and urban area in the urban plans guiding the urban development pattern. Then, the study analyzed the changes the built-up areas underwent for 35 years between 1985 and 2020. As method, satellite images and GIS were used. Moreover, the level of sprawl regarding the urban development in Konya was measured based on Shannon’s Entropy Index. Finally, this study found that Konya was suffering the issue of sprawl, and it emphasized the importance of studies for guiding the activities of urban development in a sustainable manner.

Spatiotemporal Analysis of Urban Sprawl and Ecological Quality Study Case: Chiba Prefecture, Japan

“…Urban sprawl and fragmentation are closely related phenomena in which fragmented urban patches often coexist with non-urban uses [15,16]. In studies of landscape fragmentation, the Shannon entropy index and landscape metrics are commonly employed to quantify the level or degree of urban sprawl/extension.…”

Cartography and analysis of the urban growth, case study: Inter-communal grouping of Batna, Algeria

“…Gyeltshen et al (2022) have done a study that uses entropy to measure the degree of compactness and dispersion of urban development in the city of Chiang Mai. Serdaroğlu Sağ (2021) assessed the urban development pattern and sprawl using Shannon's entropy: a case study of Konya (Turkey), and Aprillia and Pigawati (2018) used the Shannon entropy to analyse and determine the location of the sprawl in the city of Semarang.…”