ABSTRACT
There is a gap between the smart city concept and its implementations in most African cities where most urban planners question its feasibility. The unprecedented urbanisation resulted in urban sprawl which contradicts the adoption of the smart city concept. Mapping, quantifying, monitoring, managing urban sprawl and analysing land cover variations are vital in implementing policies and designing strategies for building smart cities. Publications have been done on urban land use and land cover change and most of them choose their centre of attention on a specific element (such as landscape or policy) with fewer concerns of the spatial-temporal dynamics of urban sprawl and its management. The study explores the spatial dynamics and patterns of urban sprawl in the Harare Metropolitan Province between 1999 and 2019 using Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing. Shannon’s entropy method of urban sprawl quantification was used to analyse the trend and extent of urban sprawl. The results show significant spatial growth between 1999 and 2019 as evidenced by an increase in the built-up area in the north, east, south and southeast of the central built-up region. This technique together with other geospatial technologies can be used by the local authorities for smart spatial planning and managing urban sprawl.
