Religious Matrimony, Urban Sprawl and Urban Morphology

Abstract

With an unprecedented increase in urbanization, urban sprawl is seen as arguably the single biggest threat to the biodiversity of cities and regions by supporting an increasingly high dependency on fossil fuel consumption. However, while the topic of urban sprawl has been widely documented through sciences such as urban planning, ecology, environment, infrastructure, and others, there have been little, to no literature on the correlation between urban morphology and the sociological and religious viewpoints of individual housing units; making the grounds for sprawl. This perspective chapter puts forth the argument that religious matrimony contributes largely to Urban Sprawl through the contemporary dogma of monogamy and nuclear family as being basic social units. In this essence, it highlights unsustainable a fundamental land-use policy fuelled largely by religious practices. While the author does not dispute religious claims, the chapter supports that the sustainability of cities need to be reviewed and questioned through equal terms in religious belief systems; which impact on both urban morphology and society. This chapter is aimed towards urban theorists, anthropologists, and sociologists.