Monitoring and Assessing Urbanization Progress in Thailand between 2000 and 2020 Using SDG Indicator 11.3.1

Roshan Bhandari, Wenchao Xue (), Salvatore G. P. Virdis, Ekbordin Winijkul, Thi Phuoc Lai Nguyen and Suraj Joshi
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Roshan Bhandari: Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Wenchao Xue: Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Salvatore G. P. Virdis: Department of Information and Communication Technologies, School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Ekbordin Winijkul: Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Thi Phuoc Lai Nguyen: Department of Development and Sustainability, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Suraj Joshi: Department of Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: Urbanization, generally across developing countries, is accelerating at an ever-increasing pace along with population growth. The growth of built-up space is often disproportionate with the population growth rate, creating multiple stresses to the environment and hindering sustainable development. To account for this disproportionality, the SDG 11.3.1 indicator “Ratio of land consumption rate (LCR) to Population growth rate (PGR)” was developed to achieve SDG 11 and its integrated SDGs. This study assessed the variations in the LCR, PGR, and LCRPGR from 2000~2020, taking four different intervals of 5 years across Thailand, its provinces and regions by adopting the methodology recommended by UN-Habitat. A combined approach of remote sensing and statistical analysis was employed for assessing urban land use efficiency, the growth of built-up space and the relationship between the LCR and PGR in temporal as well as spatial dimensions. It was found that urban expansion is disproportionate with the PGR in most of the provinces and during a majority of the time intervals with the average LCRPGR of 0.70 (2000~2005), 1.6 (2005~2010), 0.40 (2010~2015) and 1.12 (2015~2020). Some of the studied periods (2005~2010 and 2015~2020) were dominated by the increasing built-up space in Thai provinces and regions as compared to the population growth rate, leading to higher per capita land consumption, and some experienced greater population growth, and rising urban compactness, while a few provinces tended towards stability, which was influenced by demographic factors and economic development. The average annual growth rate of built-up areas has declined in recent years across all the regions of Thailand. Further, this study is pivotal for urban planners and policymakers to promote more sustainable growth in Thai provinces and regions.

Keywords: land consumption rate (LCR); population growth rate (PGR); land use efficiency; Thailand; provincial and regional scale; disproportionality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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