Author(s)

ERIC GIELEN, JOSÉ LUIS MIRALLES I GARCIA & GABRIEL RIUTORT MAYOL

Abstract

The big urban development produced in Spain about last 30 years has produced a paradigm shift in the regional urban model. The traditionally compact city has become a scattered city. This phenomenon is usual in the American model but is relatively new in Spain and in the European context.

Many of the contemporary cities present an urban sprawl model. In this situation, the city is not only constituted by its historical nucleus and its extension, but also includes discontinuous urban land. Therefore, new analysis tools are needed.

This paper shows a part of PhD research and studies the characterization of the pattern of urban occupation from a morphological perspective. The application of multivariate statistical techniques allows to reduce an initial set of 12 variables in five independent dimensions: density, fragmentation, distance, complexity and extension.

It is shown that the urban sprawl is a multidimensional phenomenon. The research conclude that urban sprawl is an urban model of occupation of the territory, characterized by low density settlements spread over large areas, fragmented in several urban units, distant between them and defining a complex structure.

The research has been carried out in the Valencian Community at the municipal level. As a result, the five dimensions of the urban model have been calculated to all municipalities. This has allowed to identify processes of urban dispersion in the coastal areas and the metropolitan areas of the most important cities.

Keywords

Urban sprawl dimensions, Valencian community, multidimensional regional analysis, multivariate statistical techniques