How do greenbelts affect urban sprawl in European cities?

As Europe takes continuous steps towards urbanization, many cities in this continent suffer from the negative repercussions caused by urban sprawl. Among the efforts adopted to overcome urban sprawl and its adverse impacts is the greenbelt policy that is highly popular in several European countries. However, the actual effectiveness of this growth management strategy was to be determined. Using a sample of 60 European cities, 30 of which have greenbelts, this study compares (1) changes in urban sprawl in a 9-year timeframe (2006-2015) between the cities with and without greenbelts, and (2) the level of sprawl between the cities with and without greenbelts in 2006 and 2015 separately, to investigate the performance of the greenbelts, applying the metrics of Weighted Urban Proliferation (WUP) and Weighted Sprawl per Capita (WSPC). The results showed that (1) greenbelts have been largely effective as an urban growth management strategy in slowing down urban sprawl; and in most cases, they also have helped reduce sprawl, (2) While urban sprawl decreased also in some cities without greenbelts, the relative decrease in urban sprawl was much stronger in cities with greenbelts, (3) Greenbelts were somewhat more beneficial in limiting urban sprawl in cities with larger population sizes, (4) The effectiveness of greenbelts was mainly due to the reduction of land uptake per person, i.e., through densification of the built-up areas. These findings can be employed as an important part of any de-sprawling strategies in future urban and regional planning, environmental monitoring, and formulating new scenarios as well as targets and limits to urban sprawl in support of more sustainable forms of urban development