Dynamics of Urban Sprawl Growth Using Shannon’s Entropy Model: Special Reference to Couple Cities in Sri Lanka

ABSTRACT

Urban sprawl is a remarkable phenomenon in the developing cities and megacities of the world. As a spatial pattern, it has increased in recent decades thanks to urbanisation and rapid population growth. The spatial and temporal changes of urban sprawl have been thoroughly studied in cities around the world. However, few studies on urban sprawl were conducted in Sri Lanka, such as Kandy and Colombo. Batticaloa and Kurunegala are rapidly growing cities in Sri Lanka. Batticaloa has been severly affected by the Civil War for three decades. At the end of the Civil War in 2009, many development opportunities started in Batticaloa as well as Kurunegala because of a calm situation. This rapid development increased further spatial changes in the municipalities. This study aims to identify the dynamics of urban sprawl growth in Batticaloa and Kurunegala city for 2000, 2010 and 2020. Landsat satellite images for 2000, 2010 and 2020 were employed with the Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) in ArcGIS. The built-up images were calculated using Shannon’s entropy model to comprehend the urban sprawl intensity. The findings indicate that urban sprawl growth gradually increased from 2000 to 2020 based on the entropy and relative entropy in Batticaloa and Kurunegala city. It showed extreme sprawling growth, which was exceeded the halfway mark of Log(n) 0.97295 and very close to the Log(n) value of 1.94591. This growth occurred in the municipality due to individual homeownership, which increased a residential sprawl. Therefore, the government should introduce more housing schemes and implement a mandatory approval system for housing development in the municipality. These findings can contribute to formulating policies related to built-up development in the municipality to reduce the sprawling growth in future.

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WSN 209 (2025) 1-18

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