Urban Sprawl and Changes in Landscape Patterns: The Case of Kisangani City and Its Periphery (DR Congo)

Julien Bwazani Balandi (), Jean Pierre Pitchou Meniko To Hulu, Kouagou Raoul Sambieni, Yannick Useni Sikuzani, Jean-François Bastin, Charles Mumbere Musavandalo, Timothée Besisa Nguba, Jacques Elangi Langi Molo, Tresor Mbavumoja Selemani, Jean-Pierre Mate Mweru and Jan Bogaert ()
Additional contact information
Julien Bwazani Balandi: Ecole Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux, Kinshasa P.O. Box 15373, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jean Pierre Pitchou Meniko To Hulu: Institut Facultaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Yangambi, Kisangani P.O. Box 1232, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kouagou Raoul Sambieni: Ecole Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux, Kinshasa P.O. Box 15373, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Yannick Useni Sikuzani: Unité Ecologie, Restauration Ecologique et Paysage, Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Université de Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi P.O. Box 1825, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jean-François Bastin: Unité Biodiversité et Paysage, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium
Charles Mumbere Musavandalo: Ecole Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux, Kinshasa P.O. Box 15373, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Timothée Besisa Nguba: Ecole Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux, Kinshasa P.O. Box 15373, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jacques Elangi Langi Molo: Ecole Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux, Kinshasa P.O. Box 15373, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Tresor Mbavumoja Selemani: Ecole Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux, Kinshasa P.O. Box 15373, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jean-Pierre Mate Mweru: Ecole Régionale Postuniversitaire d’Aménagement et de Gestion Intégrés des Forêts et Territoires Tropicaux, Kinshasa P.O. Box 15373, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Jan Bogaert: Unité Biodiversité et Paysage, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Université de Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-14

Abstract: The rapid population growth in sub-Saharan Africa requires regular monitoring of the spatial expansion of cities in order to facilitate efficient urban planning. In this study, we quantified the dynamics of urban and peri-urban areas in the city of Kisangani from 1987 to 2021, based on morphological criteria. Results demonstrate continuous urban and peri-urban growth, with respective average annual change rates of 8.2% and 7.6%. The urban core area expanded from 13.49 km 2 to 100.49 km 2 , resulting from an alternating process of diffusion and coalescence. Peri-urbanization indexes developed to assess the trend of the decline in urban densities indicate a phase of urban densification over the period 1987–2010 succeeded by a decline in urban density over the period 2010–2021 that is characterized by a large expansion of the peri-urban area. However, despite this trend observed between 2010 and 2021, the decrease in urban density was not effective between 1987 and 2021 in Kisangani, as the fraction of peri-urban area observed in 1987 remains equivalent to that observed in 2021. This suggests a continuity of urban densification despite increasing peri-urbanization.

Keywords: urbanization; peri-urbanization indexes; decline in urban density; diffusion–coalescence; Kisangani (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/11/2066/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/11/2066/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:11:p:2066-:d:1281671

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().