도시 스프롤 측정 방법으로서 밀도 기반 스프롤 지수 특성 평가 = Evaluating Characteristics of Sprawl Index based on Population Density as a Measure of Urban Sprawl

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

As one of suburbanization phenomena, urban sprawl characterized by low density, dispersion and haphazard land use has been pointed out as the main cause of urban and environmental issues. Thus, measuring the urban sprawl has been an abiding research topic in urban studies. The sprawl index as a single indicator using only population density has been applied in a number of studies, because it is easy to understand and measure. However, the sprawl index might not be able to reflect the key characteristics of urban sprawl like leapfrog development and might be sensitive to modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) and the threshold dividing high and low population densities. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the characteristics of the sprawl index in various aspects such as change in spatial arrangement, scale and zoning effects and change in the density threshold. The main findings of this study are following. First, the sprawl index could reflect the change in population density but could not detect the change in the pattern of population density. Second, the value of sprawl index was sensitive to the changes in spatial scale and zoning system. Third, the sprawl index also increased as the threshold dividing the low and high population density increases. This findings imply that when measuring urban sprawl using the sprawl index, we need to recognize these characteristics and pay attention to the interpretation and application of the index.