By the appearance of the first cities to nowadays it is a historical fact that with the increase of
the population, they (cities) require an increase in the territory they use. The problem is that
contemporary cities are growing much more than reasonable. In other words, their development
creates preconditions for inefficient land use in the new urban territories.
More than one half of the world population lives now in urban areas, and virtually all countries
of the world are becoming increasingly urbanized. Globally population of the major cities,
agglomerations and especially their capitals is constantly growing, and this process occurs at different
rates in different parts of the world 1
. These trends are constantly changing the landscape of human
settlements, with significant implications for living conditions, the environment and development in
different parts of the world. Urban population growth leads to an urban increase and a spatial
restructuring of the urban areas, showing as a change in the environment, living conditions,
infrastructure, distribution of the social - utilities and the functional zoning.
Europe is not staying behind the common global trends moreover historically it has always been
a highly urbanized continent. The ever increasing per capita consumption of urban land is putting a
high development pressures for urbanization of the suburban areas. At the same time over the last
two decades, in the majority of countries in Europe and especially in the European Union (EU)
membrs, there is a clear trend for very low or even negative natural population growth2
. The low level
of population growth in Europe in recent decades suggests that the growth of urban areas is slower
than in other regions of the world. However, this is not the case, and the facts in the European
Environment Agency’s (EEA 2006)
3
report show for more than a double difference in urban (78%) and
population (33%) growth in Europe for the 1950-1990 period. Which clearly indicates that urban
growth and its consequences suburbanization and urban sprawl are common problem in the urban
development across Europe. During the last twenty years this trend has remained and the ratio
between urban and population growth creates a lasting trend of deconcentration and urban sprawl.