Urbanization in Small Cities and Their Significant Implications on Landscape Structures: The Case in Ethiopia

Abstract

Fundamental ideas concerning urbanization are primarily based on studies performed in large cities. It is of interest to study whether or not similar phenomena take place in smaller cities. Small cities are an inherent component of urbanization, and in the future, the majority of globalization is expected to occur in small and mid-sized cities. Understanding the effects of small cities on landscape structures is, therefore, an essential component in planning city land expansion. Accordingly, this study focused on six towns of the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinnee, Ethiopia, which is broadly known to be experiencing dramatic growth. Time-series Landsat images from 1987 to 2019 with an integrated method, landscape metrics, and built-up density analysis were employed to characterize and compare the dynamics of landscape structures, urban expansion patterns, process, and overall growth status in the towns. The results highlight that all the towns experienced accelerated growth in the built-up areas and highly scattered nature in spatial growth. Landscape ecology analysis confirmed a highly fragmented urban landscape, a significant loss of natural land covers, and disconnected and complicated agro-vegetation patches in all towns, suggesting a lack of rigorous implementation of the master plan. Results also indicated that the Oromia Special Zone surrounding Finfinnee has failed to control urban sprawl to surrounding ecological sensitive areas. The study results, more broadly, highlight that the small cities would have a limited physical and demographic footprint and relatively less contribution to the national economic agglomeration; nonetheless, they can have a notable and important impact in terms of their ecological and environmental influence. Hence, the study suggests policies for monitoring such dynamics and protecting agro-environmental connectivity with particular focus on the small cities.Sustainability 2020, 12, 1235 2 of 19 infrastructure and services. Whereas a compact spatial form can assist in implementing an enhanced transportation system as well as minimize the consumption of traffic energy-efficiency and resource utilization such as water pipe networks and drainage system [6,7]. However, some studies argue that the potential for damage to urban green spaces [8], increased traffic congestion, pollution, and crowded services [9] are notable shortcomings of compacting urban development. Even though there is some controversy regarding spatial growth types, the general agreement is that the urban spatial morphology can determine the social, environmental, and ecological situations of a city. Consequently, exploration of the urban spatial dynamics and landscape structures analysis continues to of interest due to its high importance in creating sustainable cities.Several studies have investigated the effects of urban expansion on the landscape composition and configuration [10][11][12], investigating the existing and projected urban land dynamics [13], and exploring the patterns and possible drivers [...

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