More than two decades after the start of the transition new trends of urban development in
the former socialist countries in South-eastern Europe are now obvious. Current studies
support the view in Bulgaria as one of the former socialist countries new processes of urban
sprawl have emerged and their rates in some areas are already accelerated. However, they
display very strong local features. Though urban sprawl in Bulgaria is generally of Western
type, it deviates from the western model in important aspects due to local specifics. Some of
the specifics should be related to the geographic location and are close to those associated
with South European urban models. Another group of features are due to circumstances and
traditions developed during the period of socialism. A third group should be related to factors
of recent economic development and the concrete type of transition. This paper is studying
the newly emerged processes of urban sprawl in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, by analyzing the
common features and specific characteristics compared to “classical” urban sprawl
experienced in North America and Western Europe.