Urban growth dynamics and expansion forms in 11 Tanzanian cities from 1990 to 2020

ABSTRACT

With rapid urban expansion across Tanzania, there is a need to institute steps to address factors and forms as well as impacts and challenges associated with the observed trend. This study’s aim is to use spatial urban landscape indices to analyze the spatial changes in urban forms, patterns, and rates across 11 urban centers in Tanzania over a 30-year study period (1990–2020). During the past three decades, urban lands of 11 cities and town in Tanzania have grown by a total of 480 km². Leapfrog growth was found as the most dominant form of urban expansion in Tanzania while Dodoma, the capital city of Tanzania, had the highest rate of urban expansion when compared to all other individual cities. The most robust and significant interaction of the AWMLEI and MLEI was found in Kigoma, Arusha, Mtwara, Mafinga, and Tunduma cities. In contrast, Mbeya agricultural city, Arusha the tourist city, Tabora, and Geita Lake zone areas did show their own peculiarities revealing an interesting spatial temporal variation in rate and form of expansion. The outcome of this study reveals that the influence and management of economic and socio-cultural opportunities will be an effective tool for the determination of the rapidly expanding cities and towns of Tanzania.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban growth indices
• drivers of urban forms
• urban forms and patterns
• landscape metrics
• Tanzania

Acknowledgements

The authors are sincerely grateful to the editors as well as the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments that helped us improve the quality of this paper significantly.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author(s) upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Sokoine University of Agriculture Research and Innovation Support (SUARIS) 2nd Phase special Grant [2022/2024], and the Directorate of Postgraduate Studies, Research, Technology Transfer and Consultancy (DPRTC).