Urbanisation in developing countries can contribute to various benefits and challenges. The growing areas of informal settlements on the peripheries of greater cities are a product of rapid urbanisation and uncontrolled population growth of the city. Informal settlements are often accompanied by the expansion of spontaneous and unsustainable infrastructure that encroach on land of valuable, natural resources. The stakeholders of the two locations studied in this research – Accra in Ghana and Kigali in Rwanda – handle stressors that rapid urbanisation causes differently, which is reflected in the use of land beyond the city area. Although a significant amount of research has been done on urbanisation patterns and land use in both Ghana and Rwanda, this study identifies the research gap of how urbanisation can be used and guided by local actors in developing countries for efficient and sustainable land use. The objective of this research is thus to identify how urbanisation can be used and guided for efficient and sustainable land use. The Environmental Stewardship framework by Bennett, et al. (2018) is used to locate relevant aspects of the management of sustainable land use for collecting data. Local authorities and organisations are the responsible actors for the management of land and the urban environment in Ghana and Rwanda respectively. Investigating official documents and reports that can be found on the official websites of these entities, along with UN publications, is therefore the main method of collecting data of this study. One interview, statistical estimates, and articles in local newspapers provide additional data for this study. The findings reveal that local authorities can make use of urbanisation by using several factors for sustainable and efficient land use. These factors include strong leadership and control of land and the urban environment through e.g. the maintenance of land registers, densification and vertical development of dwellings, ensuring the availability of data that allows for land use planning, steering urbanisation to alternative cities through pull-factors, and upgrading informal settlements. The element of capacity, especially institutional capacity, by Bennett, et al. (2018) is found to be profoundly important for efficient and sustainable land use.

Urban sprawl is the uncontrolled and uncoordinated outgrowth of towns and cities. Noting the various studies, the pattern of urban sprawl is characterised by using spatial metrics based on the extent of paved surface or built-up areas. The process of urban sprawl can be described by change in pattern over time, like proportional increase in built-up surface to population leading to rapid urban spatial expansion. With an understanding of the patterns, processes and causes of urban sprawl, the consequences of sprawl can be explored which are reflected by the patterns, thus eventually aiding in the design of spatial planning support system. Following the sequence of patterns, process, causes and consequence, sets the research agenda as the framework for this research. The current research addresses the issue of urban sprawl in the context of Bangalore, India. We propose a theoretical framework to analyse the interaction of planning and governance on the extent of outgrowth and level of services. Reviewing the different indicator frameworks, we also propose urban sprawl indicators and operationalise the same for Bangalore. The indicators comprise spatial metrics (derived from temporal satellite remote sensing data) and other metrics obtained from a house-hold survey. The interaction of different indicators with respect to the core city and the outgrowth is determined by multidimensional scaling. The analyses reveal the underlying patterns -similarities (and dissimilarities) that relate with the different governance structures that prevail here. Subsequently, we attempt to understand the process of sprawl. This might help one to understand the dynamics that lead to such outgrowths. An attempt was made to capture the dynamics using systems approach and finally the insights gained were translated into agent-based land-use model. Noting the evolution of spatial planning support system (SPSS), the consequences of sprawl are explored. The SPSS developed on an agent-based modelling environment, is essentially a process-based land-use model. We highlight the need for an integrated SPSS, illustrating its development and evaluation. The policy analysis carried out using the SPSS offers insights into areas of concern. It is concluded by noting the drawbacks and challenges for future research for managing urban sprawl. In the present context, with the escalating problem of urban sprawl, the evolution of a SPSS in the form of the BangaloreSim model is the first step in this direction. The SPSS aids in undertaking policy analysis for certain policy measures and its consequences on urban land-use. The research concludes outlining the challenges in addressing urban sprawl while ensuring adequate level of services that planning and governance have to ensure towards achieving sustainable urbanisation.