Improving the measurement of urban sprawl: Weighted Urban Proliferation (WUP) and its application to Switzerland

- The novel sprawl metric presented is Weighted Urban Proliferation (WUP).
- WUP is a combination of built-up area, its dispersion, and its utilization density.
- The degree of urban sprawl in Switzerland increased by 155% between 1935 and 2002.
- Examples from parts of Switzerland demonstrate that sprawl can be reduced.
- WUP is suitable for performance control of limits to urban sprawl.