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Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2020) | Viewed by 73346

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yuji Murayama

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan
Interests: human geography; GIScience; geospatial analysis; spatial modeling; urban geography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Matamyo Simwanda

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Copperbelt University, P.O. Box 21692, Kitwe Zambia
Interests: urban studies; urban geography; urban ecological assessments; environmental impact assessments; GIS; remote sensing; spatial analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Manjula Ranagalage

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale 50300, Sri Lanka
Interests: urban studies; remote sensing; GIS; spatial analysis; urban sustainability; urban heat island; urban climate; urban geography; green volume
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The international statistics show that the global urban population will increase up to 66% of the total by 2050. The United Nations (UN) projection shows that urbanization will be faster in Asian and African countries than on other continents. In the future, rapid urbanization will bring severe environmental and socio-economic problems such as land degradation, loss of urban ecosystem services, urban heat islands, air pollution, flooding, health, urban poverty, crimes and violence, and traffic congestion. Thus, sustainable urban development has become a widely discussed concept in various disciplines such as geography, engineering, economics, politics, and sociology, among others. Sustainable urban development is viewed as a way of preventing, reducing and mitigating the environmental and socioeconomic negative impacts associated with urbanization, notwithstanding its positive impacts (i.e., social and economic improvement of livelihoods). Hence, capturing the spatial–temporal variation of urbanization patterns will help to introduce proper sustainable urban planning in developing countries, especially for Asian and African cities.

During the last two decades, many researchers have focused on the urbanization pattern and process in developing countries. In this context, the scarcity of the spatial data has been an obstacle to studying the urbanization quantitatively, especially in Asian and African cities. The use of remote sensing data and geographical information systems (GIS) techniques can be used to overcome the above limitations. The data such as land use and land cover, land surface temperature, population density, and energy consumption can be extracted based on remote sensing in various spatial and temporal resolutions, and GIS techniques can be used to analyze the urbanization patterns and also to predict future patterns. Thus, the link between urbanization and sustainable urban development has increasingly become a principal issue in efforts to design and develop sustainable cities at the local, regional, and global levels.

In this Special Issue, we focus on the spatiotemporal analysis of urbanization using GIS and remote sensing in developing countries, with a special concern for future urban sustainability in Asia and Africa. We will contribute to this Special Issue through research papers, case studies, conceptual or analytic reviews, and policy-relevant articles that will help achieve sustainability in urban cities in Asia and Africa.

Prof. Dr. Yuji Murayama
Dr. Matamyo Simwanda
Dr. Manjula Ranagalage
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Availability of GIS and remote sensing for capturing urbanization trends
  • Geospatial analysis of urbanization
  • Developing new GIS methods and models to analyze urbanization
  • Prediction and modeling of future urban growth
  • Scenario analysis for sustainable urban development
  • Urban sustainability and urban planning/policy

Published Papers (17 papers)

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Editorial

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5 pages, 183 KiB  
Editorial
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries
by Yuji Murayama, Matamyo Simwanda and Manjula Ranagalage
Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 3681; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13073681 - 26 Mar 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2925
Abstract
The international statistics show that the global urban population will increase by up to 68% by 2050 [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

24 pages, 8703 KiB  
Article
Impact of COVID-19 Induced Lockdown on Environmental Quality in Four Indian Megacities Using Landsat 8 OLI and TIRS-Derived Data and Mamdani Fuzzy Logic Modelling Approach
by Sasanka Ghosh, Arijit Das, Tusar Kanti Hembram, Sunil Saha, Biswajeet Pradhan and Abdullah M. Alamri
Sustainability 2020, 12(13), 5464; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12135464 - 07 Jul 2020
Cited by 50 | Viewed by 6270
Abstract
The deadly COVID-19 virus has caused a global pandemic health emergency. This COVID-19 has spread its arms to 200 countries globally and the megacities of the world were particularly affected with a large number of infections and deaths, which is still increasing day [...] Read more.
The deadly COVID-19 virus has caused a global pandemic health emergency. This COVID-19 has spread its arms to 200 countries globally and the megacities of the world were particularly affected with a large number of infections and deaths, which is still increasing day by day. On the other hand, the outbreak of COVID-19 has greatly impacted the global environment to regain its health. This study takes four megacities (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Chennai) of India for a comprehensive assessment of the dynamicity of environmental quality resulting from the COVID-19 induced lockdown situation. An environmental quality index was formulated using remotely sensed biophysical parameters like Particulate Matters PM10 concentration, Land Surface Temperature (LST), Normalized Different Moisture Index (NDMI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). Fuzzy-AHP, which is a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making process, has been utilized to derive the weight of the indicators and aggregation. The results showing that COVID-19 induced lockdown in the form of restrictions on human and vehicular movements and decreasing economic activities has improved the overall quality of the environment in the selected Indian cities for a short time span. Overall, the results indicate that lockdown is not only capable of controlling COVID-19 spread, but also helpful in minimizing environmental degradation. The findings of this study can be utilized for assessing and analyzing the impacts of COVID-19 induced lockdown situation on the overall environmental quality of other megacities of the world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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22 pages, 4673 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Life Quality in a Tropical Mountain City Using a Multi-Criteria Geospatial Technique: A Case Study of Kandy City, Sri Lanka
by DMSLB Dissanayake, Takehiro Morimoto, Yuji Murayama, Manjula Ranagalage and ENC Perera
Sustainability 2020, 12(7), 2918; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12072918 - 06 Apr 2020
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4187
Abstract
The blooming of urban expansion has led to the improvement of urban life, but some of the negative externalities have affected the life quality of urban dwellers, both directly and indirectly. As a result of this, research related to the quality of life [...] Read more.
The blooming of urban expansion has led to the improvement of urban life, but some of the negative externalities have affected the life quality of urban dwellers, both directly and indirectly. As a result of this, research related to the quality of life has gained much attention among multidisciplinary researchers around the world. A number of attempts have been made by previous researchers to identify, assess, quantify, and map quality of life or well-being under various kinds of perspectives. The objectives of this research were to create a life quality index (LQI) and identify the spatial distribution pattern of LQI in Kandy City, Sri Lanka. Multiple factors were decomposed, a hierarchy was constructed by the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method, and 13 factors were selected under two main criteria—environmental and socioeconomic. Pairwise comparison matrices were created, and the weight of each factor was determined by the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Finally, gradient analysis was employed to examine the spatial distribution pattern of LQI from the city center to the periphery. The results show that socioeconomic factors affect the quality of life more strongly than environmental factors, and the most significant factor is transportation. The highest life quality zones (26% of the total area) were distributed around the city center, while the lowest zones represented only 9% of the whole area. As shown in the gradient analysis, more than 50% of the land in the first five kilometers from the city center comes under the highest life quality zone. This research will provide guidance for the residents and respective administrative bodies to make Kandy City a livable city. It the constructed model can be applied to any geographical area by conducting necessary data calibration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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18 pages, 46262 KiB  
Article
An Analysis of Urban Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Blantyre City, Southern Malawi (1994–2018)
by John Mawenda, Teiji Watanabe and Ram Avtar
Sustainability 2020, 12(6), 2377; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12062377 - 18 Mar 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 6547
Abstract
Rapid and unplanned urban growth has adverse environmental and social consequences. This is prominent in sub-Saharan Africa where the urbanisation rate is high and characterised by the proliferation of informal settlements. It is, therefore, crucial that urban land use/land cover (LULC) changes be [...] Read more.
Rapid and unplanned urban growth has adverse environmental and social consequences. This is prominent in sub-Saharan Africa where the urbanisation rate is high and characterised by the proliferation of informal settlements. It is, therefore, crucial that urban land use/land cover (LULC) changes be investigated in order to enhance effective planning and sustainable growth. In this paper, the spatial and temporal LULC changes in Blantyre city were studied using the integration of remotely sensed Landsat imageries of 1994, 2007 and 2018, and a geographic information system (GIS). The supervised classification method using the support vector machine algorithm was applied to generate the LULC maps. The study also analysed the transition matrices derived from the classified map to identify prominent processes of changes for planning prioritisation. The results showed that the built-up class, which included urban structures such as residential, industrial, commercial and public installations, increased in the 24-year study period. On the contrary, bare land, which included vacant lands, open spaces with little or no vegetation, hilly clear-cut areas and other fallow land, declined over the study period. This was also the case with the vegetation class (i.e., forests, parks, permanent tree-covered areas and shrubs). The post-classification results revealed that the LULC changes during the second period (2007–2018) were faster compared to the first period (1994–2007). Furthermore, the results revealed that the increase in built-up areas systematically targeted the bare land and avoided the vegetated areas, and that the vegetated areas were systematically cleared to bare land during the study period (1994–2018). The findings of this study have revealed the pressure of human activities on the land and natural environment in Blantyre and provided the basis for sustainable urban planning and development in Blantyre city. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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20 pages, 4209 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Nonlinear Negative Relationship between Urbanization and Habitat Quality in Metropolitan Areas
by Jingfeng Zhu, Ning Ding, Dehuan Li, Wei Sun, Yujing Xie and Xiangrong Wang
Sustainability 2020, 12(2), 669; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12020669 - 16 Jan 2020
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 3364
Abstract
Urbanization intensity (UI) affects habitat quality (HQ) by changing land patterns, nutrient conditions, management, etc. Therefore, there is a need for studies on the relationship between UI and HQ and quantification of separate urbanization impacts on HQ. In this study, the relationship between [...] Read more.
Urbanization intensity (UI) affects habitat quality (HQ) by changing land patterns, nutrient conditions, management, etc. Therefore, there is a need for studies on the relationship between UI and HQ and quantification of separate urbanization impacts on HQ. In this study, the relationship between HQ and UI and the direct and indirect impacts of urbanization on HQ were analyzed for the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) from 1995 to 2010. The results indicated that the regional relationship between HQ and UI was nonlinear and negative, with inflection points where urbanization reached 20% and 80%. Furthermore, depending on different urbanization impacts, the relationship types generally changed from a steady decrease to stable in different cities. Negative indirect impacts accelerate habitat degradation, while positive impacts partially offset habitat degradation caused by land conversion. The average offset extent was approximately 28.23%, 17.41%, 22.94%, and 16.18% in 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2010, respectively. Moreover, the dependency of urbanization impacts on human demand in different urbanization stages was also demonstrated. The increasing demand for urban land has exacerbated the threat to ecological areas, but awareness about the need to protect ecological conditions began to strengthen after the antagonistic stage of urbanization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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17 pages, 7260 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Patterns and Drivers of the Surface Urban Heat Island in 36 Major Cities in China: A Comparison of Two Different Methods for Delineating Rural Areas
by Lu Niu, Ronglin Tang, Yazhen Jiang and Xiaoming Zhou
Sustainability 2020, 12(2), 478; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12020478 - 08 Jan 2020
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 3416
Abstract
Urban heat islands (UHIs) are an important issue in urban sustainability, and the standardized calculation of surface urban heat island (SUHI) intensity has been a common concern of researchers in the past. In this study, we used the administrative borders (AB) method and [...] Read more.
Urban heat islands (UHIs) are an important issue in urban sustainability, and the standardized calculation of surface urban heat island (SUHI) intensity has been a common concern of researchers in the past. In this study, we used the administrative borders (AB) method and an optimized simplified urban-extent (OSUE) algorithm to calculate the surface urban heat island intensity from 2001 to 2017 for 36 major cities in mainland China by using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images. The spatiotemporal differences between these two methods were analyzed from the perspectives of the regional and national patterns and the daily, monthly, and annual trends. Regardless of the spatial or temporal scale, the calculation results of these two methods showed extremely similar patterns, especially for the daytime. However, when the calculated SUHI intensities were investigated through a regression analysis with multiple driving factors, we found that, although natural conditions were the main drivers for both methods, the anthropogenic factors obtained from statistical data (population and gross domestic product) were more correlated with the SUHI intensity from the AB method. This trend was probably caused by the spatial extent of the statistical data, which aligned more closely with the rural extent in the AB method. This study not only explores the standardization of the calculation of urban heat intensity but also provides insights into the relationship between urban development and the SUHI. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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21 pages, 3619 KiB  
Article
The Impacts of the Expansion of Urban Impervious Surfaces on Urban Heat Islands in a Coastal City in China
by Lizhong Hua, Xinxin Zhang, Qin Nie, Fengqin Sun and Lina Tang
Sustainability 2020, 12(2), 475; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12020475 - 08 Jan 2020
Cited by 53 | Viewed by 3677
Abstract
The effect of the expansion of urban impervious surfaces on surface urban heat islands (UHIs) has attracted research attention due to its relevance for studies of local climatic change and habitat comfort. In this study, using five satellite images of Xiamen city, Southeast [...] Read more.
The effect of the expansion of urban impervious surfaces on surface urban heat islands (UHIs) has attracted research attention due to its relevance for studies of local climatic change and habitat comfort. In this study, using five satellite images of Xiamen city, Southeast China (four images from the Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and one from the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIRS)) acquired in summer between 1989 and 2016, together with spatial statistical methods, the changes in impervious surface area (ISA) were investigated, the spatiotemporal variation of the intensity of urban heat islands (UHIs) was explored, and the relationships between land surface temperature (LST) and the percentage of impervious surface area (ISA%), the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and fractional vegetation coverage (Fv) were investigated. The results showed the following: (1) According to the biophysical composition index (BCI) combined with an ISA post-processing method, Xiamen has witnessed a substantial increase in ISA, showing a 6.1-fold increase from 1989 to 2016. The direction of ISA expansion was consistent throughout the study period in each of the five districts of Xiamen; (2) a bay-like UHI form is observed in the study area, which is remarkably distinct from the central-radial UHI form observed in previous studies of other cities; (3) the extent of UHIs in Xiamen greatly increased between 1989 and 2016, experiencing a 4.7-fold increase in UHI areas during this time. However, during the same period, the urban heat island ratio index (URI)—that is, the ratio of UHI area to ISA—decreased slightly. The UHI area decreased in some urban parts of Xiamen due to a significant increase in vegetation coverage, urban village redevelopment, and the construction of new parks; (4) sea ports and heavy industrial zones are the greatest contributor to surface UHI, followed by urban villages; and (5) LST is strongly positively correlated with ISA%. Each 10% increase in ISA was associated with an increase in summer LST of 0.41 to 0.91 K, which compares well with the results of related studies. This study presents valuable information for the development of regional urban planning strategies to mitigate the effects of UHIs during rapid urbanization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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18 pages, 2599 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Patterns and Driving Forces of Urban Expansion in Coastal Areas: A Study on Urban Agglomeration in the Pearl River Delta, China
by Yichen Yan, Hongrun Ju, Shengrui Zhang and Wei Jiang
Sustainability 2020, 12(1), 191; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12010191 - 25 Dec 2019
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 3371
Abstract
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the spatial pattern of urban expansion and the mechanism of urbanization in coastal areas have undergone significant changes. This study aims to reveal the spatiotemporal patterns of urban land expansion and analyze the dynamic driving forces [...] Read more.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, the spatial pattern of urban expansion and the mechanism of urbanization in coastal areas have undergone significant changes. This study aims to reveal the spatiotemporal patterns of urban land expansion and analyze the dynamic driving forces of urban agglomeration in the Pearl River Delta of China from 2000 to 2015. The urban-land-expansion intensity index, expansion difference index, and fractal dimension were used to study how the urban land in this area was developed, and the geographical detector was applied to explore the relative importance, expansion intensity, and interactions of physical and socioeconomic factors. The results revealed that the urban-land-expansion intensity of the Pearl-River-Delta urban agglomerations exhibit a downward trend, while cities exhibited a trend of developing more coordinately from 2000 to 2015. Physical factors determined the direction and scale of urban development, and the urban land expansion in the Pearl-River-Delta urban agglomeration is mainly distributed in plain areas that have an elevation below 120 m and a slope less than 5°. Socioeconomic factors have a greater influence on the expansion of urban land, and their effects have changed over time. Population growth and economic development has played a significant role in the expansion of urban land before 2005. Subsequently, the factor of GDP and distance to the core cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen controlled the expansion to the greatest extent. The impacts of various factors tended to become balanced during 2010–2015. The majority of the factors enhanced each other via their interactions, and the distance to the rivers always exhibited a greater enhancement when there was interaction with other factors. The spatial and temporal analysis of the urban expansion and the mechanism of the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration could provide useful information for coastal urban planning. This study also offers new knowledge regarding the interactions between different drivers of urban land expansion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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14 pages, 4428 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Monitoring and Analysis of Ecological Quality of Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone, a New Type of Sea Island City, Based on RSEI
by Xiaole Wen, Yanli Ming, Yonggang Gao and Xinyu Hu
Sustainability 2020, 12(1), 21; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12010021 - 18 Dec 2019
Cited by 59 | Viewed by 4012
Abstract
Islands face increasingly prominent environmental problems with rapid urbanization. Hence, timely and objective monitoring and evaluation of island ecology is of great significance. This study took the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone (PZ) in the east sea of Fujian Province of China as the [...] Read more.
Islands face increasingly prominent environmental problems with rapid urbanization. Hence, timely and objective monitoring and evaluation of island ecology is of great significance. This study took the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone (PZ) in the east sea of Fujian Province of China as the research object. Based on remote sensing technology, four Landsat images from 2007 to 2017 and the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) were used to explore the ecological status and space–time change. The results showed that from 2007 to 2011, the average RSEI decreased from 0.519 to 0.506, indicating that the ecological quality generally showed a slight downward trend, mainly due to large-scale development brought by the construction; by 2014, although the ecology of the original area improved, the overall ecology was still declining with 0.502 mean RSEI mainly because of large-scale reclamation projects; by 2017, the average RSEI rebounded to 0.523, which was attributed to the fact that ecological construction and protection were emphasized in the construction of PZ, especially in reclamation areas. In conclusion, the increase of large area bare soil will lead to the decline of regional ecology, but the implementation of scientific ecological planning is conducive to ecological restoration and construction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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20 pages, 6487 KiB  
Article
Spatial-Temporal Dynamic Analysis of Land Use and Landscape Pattern in Guangzhou, China: Exploring the Driving Forces from an Urban Sustainability Perspective
by Siqi Liu, Qing Yu and Chen Wei
Sustainability 2019, 11(23), 6675; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11236675 - 26 Nov 2019
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3635
Abstract
Rapid urbanization is one of the most important factors causing land-use change, which mainly results from the orientation of government policies, adjustment of industrial structure, and migration of the rural population. Land use and land cover change (LUCC) is the natural foundation of [...] Read more.
Rapid urbanization is one of the most important factors causing land-use change, which mainly results from the orientation of government policies, adjustment of industrial structure, and migration of the rural population. Land use and land cover change (LUCC) is the natural foundation of urban development that is significantly influenced by human activities. By analyzing the LUCC and its inner driving force, as well as landscape pattern change, human activity and urban sustainable development can be better understood. This research adopted a geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technology to comprehensively analyze land use of Guangzhou, respectively, in 1995, 2005, and 2015. Fragmentation Statistics (FRAGSTATS) is the most authoritative software to calculate landscape metrics. Landscape pattern change was analyzed by FRAGSTATS. The results showed that urban land significantly increased from 16.33% in 1995 to 36.05% in 2015. Farmland greatly decreased from 45.16% in 1995 to 27.82% in 2005 and then slightly decreased to 25.10% in 2015. In the first decade, the non-agricultural conversion of rural land and the expansion of urban land was the dominant factor that led to the change. In the second decade, urban land had been supplemented through the redevelopment of low-efficiency land. The fragmentation of landscape patterns significantly increased from 1995 to 2005 and slightly decreased from 2005 to 2015. It indicated that the change in land use in the second decade was different from that in the first. This difference mainly resulted from three aspects: (1) urban development area and ecological conservation area were clearly defined in Guangzhou; (2) many small towns had developed into urban centers, and the scattered urban land gathered into these centers; (3) the establishment of greenway improved the connection of fragmented patches. After that, this study discussed land-use change and its causes and proposed the trend of urban development from the perspective of sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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18 pages, 2626 KiB  
Article
Quantitative Influence of Land-Use Changes and Urban Expansion Intensity on Landscape Pattern in Qingdao, China: Implications for Urban Sustainability
by Jinming Yang, Shimei Li and Huicui Lu
Sustainability 2019, 11(21), 6174; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11216174 - 05 Nov 2019
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 3678
Abstract
The spatial structure and configuration of land-use patches, i.e., landscape patterns could affect the flow of energy and materials in inner-urban ecosystems, and hence the sustainable development of urban areas. Studying landscape pattern changes under the process of urbanization would have implicational significance [...] Read more.
The spatial structure and configuration of land-use patches, i.e., landscape patterns could affect the flow of energy and materials in inner-urban ecosystems, and hence the sustainable development of urban areas. Studying landscape pattern changes under the process of urbanization would have implicational significance to urban planning and urban sustainability. In this paper, land-use change and urban expansion intensity (UEI) were treated as the inducement factors for changes in landscape patterns, and stepwise regression and geographically weighted regression (GWR) were adapted to quantify their integrated and distributed magnitude effects on landscape patterns, respectively. The findings suggested that land-uses have different contributions to changes in landscape patterns at different urban development zones (downtown, suburban plain area and mountainous suburban areas). Furthermore, the GWR analysis results indicated that the effect of UEI on landscape patterns has spatial and temporal heterogeneity. From 1987 to 2000, the UEI had great explanatory capacity on changes in landscape patterns and helped the landscape assemble faster in the downtown and adjacent areas. However, with the shifting of the center of urban construction from downtown to the suburbs, the high explanatory ability was oriented towards suburban areas during 2000–2016 and the magnitude of influence spatially changed. Therefore, a compact city and protection policy should be adapted to different regions in the study area to achieve strong urban sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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15 pages, 3152 KiB  
Article
Role of Urban Public Space and the Surrounding Environment in Promoting Sustainable Development from the Lens of Social Media
by Thuy Van T. Nguyen, Haoying Han and Noman Sahito
Sustainability 2019, 11(21), 5967; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11215967 - 27 Oct 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6008
Abstract
The development of mobile social network has shown the power to change the ways people gather and communicate in urban public spaces (UPSs). In this study, we utilized a check-in database collected from Instagram in 2016 and 2017 in two central districts of [...] Read more.
The development of mobile social network has shown the power to change the ways people gather and communicate in urban public spaces (UPSs). In this study, we utilized a check-in database collected from Instagram in 2016 and 2017 in two central districts of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) to analyze the city dynamics and activities over the course of the day. By quantifying the popularity of contemporary UPSs, a comprehensive study was conducted on many attraction features spreading over the two central districts. Pearson’s correlation was used to explore the proximity and attractiveness associated with the surrounding environment of three types of UPSs. The results show that the lifetime of UPSs is very stable during weekdays and weekends. Within that, commercial UPSs are proved to play a dominant role in urban dynamics. This paper’s finding is at odds with the urban planning stereotype that public facilities often help people to get around. In the case of HCMC, it has proved the opposite: people are attracted to urban public spaces even though there are not many cultural and social specialties there. The results will contribute to enhancing the predictability of each UPS on socio-economic performance and to understanding of the role of urban facilities in urban sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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26 pages, 7397 KiB  
Article
The Impacts of Landscape Changes on Annual Mean Land Surface Temperature in the Tropical Mountain City of Sri Lanka: A Case Study of Nuwara Eliya (1996–2017)
by Manjula Ranagalage, Yuji Murayama, DMSLB Dissanayake and Matamyo Simwanda
Sustainability 2019, 11(19), 5517; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11195517 - 06 Oct 2019
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 5240
Abstract
Although urbanization has contributed to improving living conditions, it has had negative impacts on the natural environment in urbanized areas. Urbanization has changed the urban landscape and resulted in increasing land surface temperature (LST). Thus, studies related to LST in various urban environments [...] Read more.
Although urbanization has contributed to improving living conditions, it has had negative impacts on the natural environment in urbanized areas. Urbanization has changed the urban landscape and resulted in increasing land surface temperature (LST). Thus, studies related to LST in various urban environments have become popular. However, there are few LST studies focusing on mountain landscapes (i.e., hill stations). Therefore, this study investigated the changes in the landscape and their impacts on LST intensity (LSTI) in the tropical mountain city of Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka. The study utilized annual median temperatures extracted from Landsat data collected from 1996 to 2017 based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) interface. The fractions of built-up (BL), forested (FL) and agricultural (AL) land, were calculated using land use and cover maps based on urban–rural zone (URZ) analysis. The urban–rural margin was demarcated based on the fractions of BL (<10%), and LSTI that were measured using the mean LST difference in the urban–rural zone. Besides, the mixture of land-use types was calculated using the AL/FL and BL/FL fraction ratios, and grid-based density analysis. The results revealed that the BL in all URZs rapidly developed, while AL decreased during the period 1996 to 2017. There was a minimal change in the forest area of the Nuwara Eliya owing to the government’s forest preservation policies. The mean temperature of the study area increased by 2.1 °C from 1996 to 2017. The magnitude of mean LST between urban–rural zones also increased from 1.0 °C (1996) to 3.5 °C (2017). The results also showed that mean LST was positively correlated with the increase and decrease of the BL/FL and AL/FL fraction ratios, respectively. The grid-based analysis showed an increasing, positive relationship between mean LST and density of BL. This indicated that BL density had been a crucial element in increasing LST in the study area. The results of this study will be a useful indicator to introduce improved landscape and urban planning in the future to minimize the negative impact of LST on urban sustainability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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19 pages, 4100 KiB  
Article
Remote Sensing-Based Analysis of Landscape Pattern Evolution in Industrial Rural Areas: A Case of Southern Jiangsu, China
by Yifan Zhu, Chengkang Wang and Takeru Sakai
Sustainability 2019, 11(18), 4994; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11184994 - 12 Sep 2019
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2849
Abstract
With the rapid economic development of industrial rural areas in Southern Jiangsu, the rural landscape and ecological environment of these industrial rural areas are getting damaged. Based on GIS and RS techniques, Landsat Satellite remote sensing images from 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011 and [...] Read more.
With the rapid economic development of industrial rural areas in Southern Jiangsu, the rural landscape and ecological environment of these industrial rural areas are getting damaged. Based on GIS and RS techniques, Landsat Satellite remote sensing images from 1981, 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2018 were collected for Jiangyin, Zhangjiagang, Changshu and Kunshan, to extract landscape pattern indexes and spatial distribution data. Landscape pattern indexes of the patch-class level and landscape level from each year were calculated by FRAGSTATS. After analyzing and comparing landscape pattern variation of five years, progress, characteristics and driving forces of landscape pattern evolution were explored. At the patch-class level, construction land had continuously encroached on green and cultivated land, exhibiting trends of expansion and centralization. At the landscape level, the number of small patches and degree of landscape fragmentation generally increased. The direct cause of landscape pattern evolution in industrial rural areas of Southern Jiangsu was the encroachment and segmentation of green and cultivated land by construction land, and the dominant factors driving the changes in construction land in the industrial rural areas of Southern Jiangsu were the effects of land and population aggregation exerted by the development of township enterprises and rural industries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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19 pages, 7471 KiB  
Article
Comparison on Multi-Scale Urban Expansion Derived from Nightlight Imagery between China and India
by Liang Zhou, Qinke Sun, Xuewei Dang and Shaohua Wang
Sustainability 2019, 11(16), 4509; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11164509 - 20 Aug 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3940
Abstract
“The Dragon and the Elephant” between China and India is an important manifestation of global multipolarization in the 21st century. As engines of global economic growth, the two rising powers have followed similar courses of development but possess important differences in modes of [...] Read more.
“The Dragon and the Elephant” between China and India is an important manifestation of global multipolarization in the 21st century. As engines of global economic growth, the two rising powers have followed similar courses of development but possess important differences in modes of development and urban development, which have attracted the widespread attention of scholars. From a geospatial perspective, and based on continuous annual night light data (Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-Operational Linescan System, DMSP-OLS) from 1992 to 2012, this paper conducts a multi-scale comparative analysis of urban development differences between China and India by employing various approaches such as the Gini coefficient, Getis–Ord Gi* index, and the Urban Expansion Intensity Index (UEII). The results show that: (1) The urban land space of the two countries expand rapidly, with the average annual expansion rate of China and India being 5.24% and 3.85%, respectively. The urban land expansion rate in China is 1.36 times faster than that in India. Resource-typed towns in arid northwest China and the resource-typed towns in central India have developed rapidly in recent years. (2) The unbalanced development in India is more prominent than in China; and the regional and provincial development imbalances in China are shrinking, while India’s imbalances are improving slowly and its regional differences are gradually widening. (3) The spatial pattern of land use in both countries shows significant coastal and inland differences. The difference between the east, the central regions, and the west is the main spatial pattern of China’s regional development, while the difference between the north and the south is the spatial pattern of India’s regional development. (4) There are obvious differences in the expansion intensity of core cities between the two countries. From 1997 to 2007, the expansion intensity of core cities in China was relatively higher than that in India, while that in India was relatively higher than that in China from 2007 to 2012. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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19 pages, 3802 KiB  
Article
A Cellular Automata Model Constrained by Spatiotemporal Heterogeneity of the Urban Development Strategy for Simulating Land-use Change: A Case Study in Nanjing City, China
by Jing Yang, Feng Shi, Yizhong Sun and Jie Zhu
Sustainability 2019, 11(15), 4012; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11154012 - 24 Jul 2019
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2898
Abstract
While cellular automata (CA) has become increasingly popular in land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) simulations, insufficient research has considered the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of urban development strategies and applied it to constrain CA models. Consequently, we proposed to add a zoning transition rule and [...] Read more.
While cellular automata (CA) has become increasingly popular in land-use and land-cover change (LUCC) simulations, insufficient research has considered the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of urban development strategies and applied it to constrain CA models. Consequently, we proposed to add a zoning transition rule and planning influence that consists of a development grade coefficient and traffic facility coefficient in the CA model to reflect the top-down and heterogeneous characteristics of spatial layout and the dynamic and heterogeneous external interference of traffic facilities on land-use development. Testing the method using Nanjing city as a case study, we show that the optimal combinations of development grade coefficients are different in different districts, and the simulation accuracies are improved by adding the grade coefficients into the model. Moreover, the integration of the traffic facility coefficient does not improve the model accuracy as expected because the deployment of the optimal spatial layout has considered the effect of the subway on land use. Therefore, spatial layout planning is important for urban green, humanistic and sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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18 pages, 6577 KiB  
Article
Impact of Landscape Structure on the Variation of Land Surface Temperature in Sub-Saharan Region: A Case Study of Addis Ababa using Landsat Data (1986–2016)
by DMSLB Dissanayake, Takehiro Morimoto, Yuji Murayama and Manjula Ranagalage
Sustainability 2019, 11(8), 2257; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su11082257 - 15 Apr 2019
Cited by 61 | Viewed by 5259
Abstract
Urbanization has bloomed across Asia and Africa of late, while two centuries ago, it was confined to developed regions in the largest urban agglomerations. The changing urban landscape can cause irretrievable changes to the biophysical environment, including changes in the spatiotemporal pattern of [...] Read more.
Urbanization has bloomed across Asia and Africa of late, while two centuries ago, it was confined to developed regions in the largest urban agglomerations. The changing urban landscape can cause irretrievable changes to the biophysical environment, including changes in the spatiotemporal pattern of the land surface temperature (LST). Understanding these variations in the LST will help us introduce appropriate mitigation techniques to overcome negative impacts. The research objective was to assess the impact of landscape structure on the variation in LST in the African region as a geospatial approach in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 1986–2016 with fifteen-year intervals. Land use and land cover (LULC) mapping and LST were derived by using pre-processed Landsat data (Level 2). Gradient analysis was computed for the pattern of the LST from the city center to the rural area, while intensity calculation was facilitated to analyze the magnitude of LST. Directional variation of the LST was not covered by the gradient analysis. Hence, multidirectional and multitemporal LST profiles were employed over the orthogonal and diagonal directions. The result illustrated that Addis Ababa had undergone rapid expansion. In 2016, the impervious surface (IS) had dominated 33.8% of the total lands. The IS fraction ratio of the first zone (URZ1) has improved to 66.2%, 83.7%, and 87.5%, and the mean LST of URZ1 has improved to 25.2 °C, 26.6 °C, and 29.6 °C in 1986, 2001, and 2016, respectively. The IS fraction has gradually been declining from the city center to the rural area. The behavior of the LST is not continually aligning with a pattern of IS similar to other cities along the URZs. After the specific URZs (zone 17, 37, and 41 in 1986, 2001, and 2016, respectively), the mean LST shows an increasing trend because of a fraction of bare land. This trend is different from those of other cities even in the tropical regions. The findings of this study are useful for decision makers to introduce sustainable landscape and urban planning to create livable urban environments in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Urbanization Using GIS and Remote Sensing in Developing Countries)
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