Land resource impact indicators of urban sprawl

Sprawl has been loosely defined as dispersed and inefficient urban growth. We propose a series of five indicators that examine the per capita consumption of land taken in new development in relation to several critical land resource impacts associated to sprawl including: (1) density of new urbanization; (2) loss of prime farmland; (3) loss of natural wetlands; (4) loss of core forest habitat; and (5) increase of impervious surface. These Land Resource Impact (LRI) indicators were measured for each of New Jersey's 566 municipalities using a 1986 to 1995 land use/land cover digital database along with US Census population data. By integrating population growth with land resource loss a more nuanced interpretation of land use change is provided than in previous analyses of sprawl.