PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

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At this point, a suitable definition of the term urban sprawl seems in order.
“Sprawl” is generally used to describe unfavorable expansions of urban settlements into
the surrounding landscape, and it carries extremely negative connotations because of the
very inefficient, resource-intensive land use and transport patterns associated with it. In
an attempt to provide a common definition of the term, the OECD (2000b) concluded that
sprawl could be recognized though 1) relative low density, 2) a pattern of land
consumption which is characterized by outward growth with particular patterns such as
leapfrog development and small area development alongside trunk roads, and 3) the
absence of strategic planning, with little capacity to cope with unplanned land use and
monofunctionality. As discussed below, all three factors are relevant in the Budapest
case. In another, frequently cited study, Duany, Plater-Zyberg and Speck (2000:5) also
stress the issue of monofunctionality, finding that “the dominant characteristic of sprawl
is that each component [of sprawl] is strictly segregated from the others.” They identify
five components of sprawl: roadways, housing subdivisions, shopping centers (also
variously named shopping malls or big box retail), office/business parks, and civic
institutions. With the exception of the latter, all five of those uses are presently
mushrooming around Budapest. And although a ring road in and of itself does not cause
a segregation of uses, the on and exit ramps of urban highways have always been
preferred locations for leapfrog development.
9.5.6 The role of the M0 in spurring ex-urban development in Budapest
Returning to our Budapest case study, it is certain that the key role the M0 is
playing in spurring ex-urban development is not an invention of environmentalists. New