University of Tehran Press Town and Country Planning 2008-7047 17 1 2025 07 30 Examining the Relationship between Urban Sprawl and Heat Island Intensification Through a Sustainable Urban Management Approach Examining the Relationship between Urban Sprawl and Heat Island Intensification Through a Sustainable Urban Management Approach 1 17 100156 10.22059/jtcp.2025.384081.670477 FA Mohsen Niroomand Department of GIS, School of Surveying and Geospatial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Parham Pahlavani Department of GIS, School of Surveying and Geospatial Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Behnaz Bigdeli Faculty of Civil Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran Journal Article 2024 10 23 Urban sprawl is recognized as one of the irregular patterns of city growth and development. This phenomenon has detrimental consequences in the economic, social, and environmental domains. The present study investigates the relationship between the expansion of built-up areas and the increase in urban heat islands, which is one of the consequences of urban sprawl. To this end, Landsat satellite images were used to generate land surface temperature (LST) maps for Houston, United States, over the period from 2017 to 2023. Additionally, land cover maps of the study area were produced using a machine learning algorithm with an accuracy of 94.31%. Normalized Shannon entropy values of 0.9271 for 2017 and 0.9314 for 2023 indicate the high dispersion of built-up areas and the growth of urban sprawl during this period. The comparison of land cover and LST maps reveals a 3.84°C increase in the temperature of built-up areas over the study period. Furthermore, the temperature difference of 4.41°C between built-up areas and adjacent non-built areas highlights the intensity of heat islands caused by construction growth. The significant temperature rise due to construction and the impact of built-up areas on the formation of urban heat islands underscore the importance of effective management and planning to address the challenges of urban sprawl and promote sustainable development. Urban sprawl is recognized as one of the irregular patterns of city growth and development. This phenomenon has detrimental consequences in the economic, social, and environmental domains. The present study investigates the relationship between the expansion of built-up areas and the increase in urban heat islands, which is one of the consequences of urban sprawl. To this end, Landsat satellite images were used to generate land surface temperature (LST) maps for Houston, United States, over the period from 2017 to 2023. Additionally, land cover maps of the study area were produced using a machine learning algorithm with an accuracy of 94.31%. Normalized Shannon entropy values of 0.9271 for 2017 and 0.9314 for 2023 indicate the high dispersion of built-up areas and the growth of urban sprawl during this period. The comparison of land cover and LST maps reveals a 3.84°C increase in the temperature of built-up areas over the study period. Furthermore, the temperature difference of 4.41°C between built-up areas and adjacent non-built areas highlights the intensity of heat islands caused by construction growth. The significant temperature rise due to construction and the impact of built-up areas on the formation of urban heat islands underscore the importance of effective management and planning to address the challenges of urban sprawl and promote sustainable development. https://jtcp.ut.ac.ir/article_100156_63810a0a1c9f4bf6f18c10d970cf05b9.pdf