Sprawl Developments- Measurement Indicator and Projections in Selected Nigerian Cities

Sprawl development is commonly attributed to the unprecedented rate of urbanization and city spatial growth. Large cities are not necessarily sprawling but are determined by characteristic compactness and connectedness of the metropolitan development and services including infrastructure and amenities. The understanding of the sprawl phenomenon is enhanced by some characteristic measurement of sprawl making use of certain development parameters. This paper therefore highlights an aspect of the measurement of sprawl utilizing the results from remote sensing data sourced from records of satellite images (from various Landsat and Nigeriasat) documented in research literatures. Also, the population census figures for each of the cities were sourced and projected as required for analysis and used in conjunction with their respective urban built-up land coverage. Results reveal varying pattern of relationship between progressions of urban spatial coverage changes and growth of population over a specified period of time. Intrinsic values from the computation such as urban population density and land consumption rate evolve as indicators for sprawl development and measurements.