Dynamic Visualization of Urban Sprawl Scenarios

Environment and landscape are threatened by urban sprawl. In the United States of America as well as in Germany we can observe that the open space and the green areas around the cities are disappearing. In Germany, every day more than 100 hectares open space are gobbled up for new residential areas or infrastructure. In the USA the change of landscape and the daily loss of open space is similarly dramatic. In the area of Washington D.C. the change from open space into other land use categories occurs at a rate equal to 21 football fields a day. Furthermore, during the last twenty years we can recognize urban sprawl as an increasing phenomenon. In the boom years of the 1980s the growth rate of Washington D.C. was exceeded only by that of Los Angeles. The urban sprawl phenomenon is one of the main issues of spatial planning worldwide. The sprawling development is reshaping the face of cities and metropolitan areas. Suburbanization becomes a big problem. The disappearance of open space and green areas is affecting the regions ’ environment, economy and quality of life. Growth control seems to be one of the most important tasks in urban development for the near future. It is necessar