Visualizing urban sprawl effects of a Tunisian city: a new urban spatial configuration of Monastir

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study the dynamics associated with the physical transformations of the Tunisian city of Monastir between 1956 and 2013. Beyond the description and classification of urban forms of three different phases of Monastir’s development, this research evaluates how urban changes underwent a rapid growth. The objective is to identify how the transformations undergone, from its original Medina transformation project to the contemporary city, can be apprehended using the underlying urban configuration and its evolution. The main question to address is as follows: how configurational urban changes over time have an impact on the way humans are connected throughout the organization of the city? As a theoretical background and methodology, our research is based on the theory of Social Logic of Space, and that considers the city as a dynamic system, and acknowledges circulation as the driving force behind urban morphological change. The series of investigations developed by our case study reveal the urban planning influence on the urban sprawl of the city of Monastir. It also shows the importance of centralities and accessibility of the urban forms and their effect on the distribution of land uses, and the role of the central/periphery dualism.