14. Rethinking Urban Sprawl: Moving Towards Sustainable Urban Planning Practice in Zambia

Zambia’s urban population, estimated at almost 45%, is growing rapidly resulting in uncontrolled development, especially in peri-urban areas. This chapter explores sustainability of urban planning practice in developing country situations. In particular, the study examines first, the background of urban development in the country and its spatial distribution and association with population and economic growth. Secondly, the chapter examines post-independence urban development with its concomitant rural–urban migration of population, relatively high urban growth rates and urban sprawl. The chapter is cognizant that developments in most of the rapidly growing cities in Zambia have typically been informal and uncoordinated in low-density areas and swallowing up surrounding rural land. The chapter also examines the integrated development planning (IDP) approach currently promulgated as a solution to most planning ills. Thus, the chapter explores sustainability of current urban planning approaches, with respect to satisfying social, economic and environmental development needs of people and in countering urban sprawl. The chapter uses geospatial analysis of past, present and future trends of urban sprawl in Kitwe the largest city in the Copperbelt Province, to contextualise the understanding of urban sprawl and sustainable urban development policies in Zambia.