Which term describes the spread of a city into surrounding rural areas, often resulting in the loss of farmland?

Which term describes the spread of a city into surrounding rural areas, often resulting in the loss of farmland?

• A. Urbanization
• B. Gentrification
• C. Suburbanization
• D. Sprawl

Answer: (D)

Sprawl describes the outward spread of a city into surrounding rural lands, turning farms and open space into housing and commercial development. This pattern typically happens at low density along highways and edges of the urban area, leading to the loss of farmland as development moves beyond the city core. Urbanization focuses on growth inside the city itself, not the expansion into rural areas. Gentrification deals with changes in inner-city neighborhoods’ demographics and character, not the conversion of rural land. Suburbanization refers to people moving to suburbs, which is part of the general outward shift but doesn’t by itself capture the ongoing, land-cover change into farmland that sprawl emphasizes.

Sprawl describes the outward spread of a city into surrounding rural lands, turning farms and open space into housing and commercial development. This pattern typically happens at low density along highways and edges of the urban area, leading to the loss of farmland as development moves beyond the city core.

Urbanization focuses on growth inside the city itself, not the expansion into rural areas. Gentrification deals with changes in inner-city neighborhoods’ demographics and character, not the conversion of rural land. Suburbanization refers to people moving to suburbs, which is part of the general outward shift but doesn’t by itself capture the ongoing, land-cover change into farmland that sprawl emphasizes.