Skip to main content

Sage Social Science Thesaurus

Search from vocabulary

Content language

Concept information

... > contexts > population characteristics > health > public health > epidemiology > health risks and health behaviors > urban sprawl
... > social science subjects > sociology > social problems > social problems encyc > housing and urbanization > urban sprawl
... > contexts > population characteristics > health > public health > epidemiology > social science perspectives on epidemiology > urban sprawl
... > social science subjects > sociology > environmental, urban and regional sociology > environmental sociology > society > urban sprawl
... > social science subjects > geography > human geography > regional geography > urban studies > urban geography > urban sprawl
... > social science subjects > geography > human geography > human geography theory > regional geography > urban studies > urban geography > urban sprawl

Preferred term

urban sprawl  

Definition

  • Urban sprawl, perhaps more accurately suburban sprawl, is the term for rapidly growing residential and commercial land development across a previously rural landscape. Commentators vary in more precise definitions, but there is general consensus that sprawl is typically characterized by the following attributes: relatively low densities of buildings and population, compared to traditional cities; segregation of land uses into tracts of homes, shops, and workplaces, which are separated from each other, sometimes by great distances; a network of roads with relatively large blocks and limited access, compared to traditional cities; and a lack of well-defined centers, such as downtowns. [Source: Encyclopedia of American Urban History; Urban Sprawl]

Broader concept

Belongs to group

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/urban_sprawl

Download this concept:

RDF/XML TURTLE JSON-LD