Landscape Shape Adjusted Compactness Index for Urban Areas

Abstract

Scattered urban development leads to non-compact urban form. In this paper, I demonstrate that Index of Moment of Inertia is a useful metric to measure compactness. However, elongated political boundaries and natural restrictions severely distort the metric, rendering it less useful for monitoring urban development. I propose a landscape shape adjustment of this metric that retains some of the useful properties of the Index.

Publication
Geoforum