Abstract

Metrics and Tools for the Analysis of Urban Sprawl
Track: Modeling
Author(s): Jason Parent, Shlomo Angel, Daniel Civco

The change in the spatial structure over a ten year period for a global sample of 120 cities were analyzed using remote sensing and GIS. Land cover data, for each city, were derived from Landsat imagery for two time periods, circa 1990 and circa 2000. The land cover data were used in GIS analyses to identify and measure the characteristics of the spatial structures that are indicative of urban sprawl. These characteristics include polycentricity, ribbon and scatter development, increasing fragmentation of open space, declining population densities, and a declining compactness of the urban area. Metrics were developed to quantify rigorously each of these characteristics and map layers were generated for qualitative assessments. A Python script was developed to automate fully the GIS analyses for the 120 cities.

Jason Parent
University of Connecticut
1376 Storrs Road
Storrs , Connecticut 06269-4087
United States
Phone: (860) 486-4610
E-mail: jason.parent@uconn.edu

Shlomo Angel
New York University; Princeton University
284 Lafayette St
Apartment 3B
New York , New York 10012
United States
Phone: 212-925-9055
E-mail: solly.angel@gmail.com

Daniel Civco
University of Connecticut
1376 Storrs Road
U-4087
Storrs , Connecticut 06269-4087
United States
Phone: (860) 486-0148
E-mail: daniel.civco@uconn.edu