Compactness and density of spanish cities

Abstract

The spatial characteristics of cities are crucial in major city problems, including quality of life, mobility, energy and material consumption, etc. To describe the cities sprawl, compactness and density have become two of the most functional values, and can be obtained through the main land cover databases in Spain: corine Land Cover and siose. The analysis of the ranges of these values for different types of cities allows us to characterize the form of the Spanish cities and compare their differences. This spatial definition opens the possibility of studying the effect of the shape of the city in the various problems and challenges facing urban society.