Monitoring urban sprawl is a controversial topic among scholars. Many studies have tried to employ various methods for monitoring urban sprawl in cases of North American and Northern and Western European cities. Although numerous methods have been applied with great success in various developed countries, they are predominantly impractical for cases of developing Mediterranean European cities that lack reliable census data. Besides, the complexity of the methods made them difficult to perform in underfunded situations. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new multidimensional method that researchers and planners can apply readily in developing Mediterranean European cities. The new method was tested in the Famagusta region of Northern Cyprus, which has been experiencing unplanned growth for the past half-century. In support of this proposal, a detailed review of the existing literature is presented with an emphasis on urban sprawl characteristics. Four characteristics were chosen to monitor urban sprawl’s development in the Famagusta region. The method was structured based on a time-series (2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016) dataset that used remote sensing data and geographical information systems to monitor the urban sprawl. Based on the findings, the Famagusta region experienced rapid growth during the last 15 years. The lack of a masterplan resulted in the uncontrolled expansion of the city in the exurban areas. The development configuration was polycentric and linear in form with single-use composition. Together, the expansion and configuration manifested as more built-up area, scattered development, and increased automobile dependency.

The sprawl as a result of rapid population growth appears when the city expands unplanned in the form of low-density development. The urban sprawl increase auto-dependency and Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) because sprawl is a single-use and low-density development. Therefore, measuring urban sprawl is vital, since planners get the benefit of this measurement to curb future unplanned developments. The current study aims to measure sprawl with the VMT pattern. Accordingly, the non-traffic method provides a practical solution for estimating the annual VMT in the case of Famagusta. Secondly, the build-density calculated using Google™ Earth and Geographical Information System. Finally, the VMT will be coupling with build-density for measuring the urban sprawl. The current study in compared to the similar kinds has the following advantages: a) current method can be performed in case of developing countries; b) this method is independent of traffic odometers, high-resolution census data, and land-use maps; and c) current method able to measuring the urban sprawl together with pattern of accessibility.

Most of the cities around the world are dealing with different kinds of the problems such as social, environmental, economic and others. However, for many years, urban planners have attempted to find solutions that fit within the context and have put them into practice in order to shape the form of a city accordingly. One of the controversial problems which most of the developing and developed countries deal with it is urban sprawl, which affects everything and everyone in different scales. For last three decades, even in case of T.R.N. Cyprus, urban sprawl has become inevitable; urban sprawl is recognizable, sprawl construction becomes a profitable business for construction, real-estate, and others involved in this business. Unfortunately, some communities to realize their vision welcomed to urban sprawl construction and enthusiastically embrace it with open arm, such communities sacrifice sociability opportunity and vibrant neighborhood to those single-use towns which is one of the main characteristics is social exclusion and psychological problems, fundamentally one of the key factors can be found in lack of public awareness especially for who prefer to live in sprawl town. In T.R.N. Cyprus urban sprawl didn't promote auto-dependency. Despite urban sprawl in T.R.N. Cyprus have many repercussions, one of the important impacts which are considered in this articles are psychological impact of urban sprawl, also this article attempt to divide urban sprawl leaving condition into three phases, and promote the contemplate phase which makes sprawl inhabitants think and return to inner-city neighborhood again.

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The transformation of land-use land-cover (LULC), as induced by human and natural processes, drives the biogeochemistry of Earth and influences the complex interaction between many factors. The most significant outcomes of these interactions are the thermal responses and changes in land-surface temperature (LST). The consequences of these factors can be seen in both global and regional scale changes in climate-remote sensing methods are widely used in constraining these changes and, thus, there is an increasing shift toward LULC studies. This study uses a hybrid method to investigate the thermal responses to LULC patterns by analyzing LST. This method combined the normalized difference vegetation index, normalized difference built-up index, normalized difference barrenness index, and normalized difference moisture index, and is then applied to a study area in Famagusta, Cyprus. The results of this study can help to guide future development and land-use optimization, in Famagusta or any other area in which the method is applied. The study results show that agricultural intensification contributes to increased LST (x = 313.3), whereas wetland (x = 307.5) and forested land decrease the LST. Positive correlations are recorded between increased LST, the normalized difference built-up index (r = 0.702, p < 0.01), and two digital elevation models (r = 0.372, r = 0.364, p < 0.01), while negative correlations existed between LST and the indices of normalized difference vegetation (r = −0.082, p < 0.01), barrenness (r = −0.711, p < 0.01), and moisture (r = −0.702, p < 0.01).