Indicator 11.3.1 Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate

Indicator 11.3.1: Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate

The indicator assesses the degree of territorial extension of cities as related to the degree or urbanisation. This indicator needs defining two components: 1) land consumption rate and 2) population growth rate. The calculation of the population growth rate is easier and more available, while the rate of land consumption is a challenge and it needs to use new techniques. When estimating the land consumption rate, it is important to clearly define what land “consumption” means, because this may cover “consumed” or “preserved” or available for “development” aspects for such cases as land covered with wet zones. Secondly, there is no unequivocal measure for the land if the land under development is really “newly-developed” (or free) or if it is at least partially „redeveloped“. Hence, the percentage out of the total real urban area which was really newly developed (consumed) will be used as a measure of the land consumption rate. The completely developed area is also sometimes called built area.

Index

LCRPGR=((LN(Urb_(t+n)/Urb_t ))/y)/(LN(Pop_(t+n)/Pop_t )/y)

where:

Urb_t= territorial extension of cities in year t (initial year) in km2

Urb_(t+n)= territorial extension of the cities in year t+n (final year) in km2

Pop_t = urban population in year t (initial year)

Pot_(t+n) = urban population in year t+n (final year)

y=n=Number of years between the years of reference

LN- natural logarithm

Once every 5 years starting with 2017