The prevailing urban planning paradigm now guiding the expansion of cities and metropolitan areas is premised on the containment of urban sprawl, but containment is not appropriate in rapidly urbanizing countries where most growth in now taking place. Our analysis of the quantitative dimensions of past, present, and future urban land cover suggests a different paradigm—the making room paradigm—as a more realistic strategy for cities and metropolitan regions that need to prepare for their inevitable expansion. An urban planning strategy that can effectively meet the challenges posed by worldwide urban expansion cannot rely on simply transplanting a containment strategy from one city, where it may be sensible and advisable, to another one, where it may not be, without a deeper understanding of the key spatial dimensions of these cities and their changes over time.