Building visual green index: A measure of visual green spaces for urban building

Abstract

In the context of rapid urbanization, balancing the development and conservation of green space is a challenging task for urban planning and urban administrative management. Accurate measurement of green spaces in urban areas is an important source of information when evaluating the effect of urban development on green space. In this study, we used multispectral remote sensing images to extract urban buildings and green areas and developed a Building Visual Greenness Index (BVGI) to estimate the green space views from buildings. Instead of considering a single value for the entire building, BVGI values for each floor above the second floor were calculated to take into account of the dependence of BVGI on the building height. The results show that BVGI can reflect the actual green space view for residents on each floor, and BVGI is a useful index for green space measurement at a community scale. Furthermore, BVGI may provide a virtual visualization index of green space in urban planning and replace the traditional green indexes at a community scale for urban administrators.