Set Of Spatial Metrics Research Articles

Coastalization patterns in the Mediterranean: a spatiotemporal analysis of coastal urban sprawl in tourism destination areas

Under the current climate change scenery, coastalization, i.e. a linear-type of urban sprawl along the coastal zone, has become a key planning and policy concern at a global scale. Such a coastal urban sprawl trend seems to be further intensifying by, among others, mass tourism development in coastal destinations. This is evident by the abundance of relevant examples, being detected, among others, in the Mediterranean region. Taking into consideration the extreme pressure of the coastalization trend on land/marine ecosystems and its impacts on sustainability and resilience objectives, the focus of this research is on the development of a spatiotemporal and data-driven methodological approach that is capable of quantifying the dynamics of coastal urban sprawl. The proposed approach is grounded on a set of spatial metrics and a combination of the multitemporal Global Human Settlement Layer and the Corine Land Cover data; and is tested in four Mediterranean highly-rated tourism destinations in Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The variation of spatial metrics along different time spots and distinct distance buffers from the coast, unveils diversifying coastalization typologies and urban sprawl patterns; and provides input for more informed and place-based policy decisions on sustainable coastal land management. The proposed approach is easily replicable to other coastal regions as well for capturing/quantifying aspects of urban sprawl and coastalization dynamics and supporting relevant evidence-based decision-making.

Using Geographic Information to Analyze Wildland Firefighter Situational Awareness: Impacts of Spatial Resolution on Visibility Assessment

Wildland firefighters must be able to maintain situational awareness to ensure their safety. Crew members, including lookouts and crew building handlines, rely on visibility to assess risk and communicate changing conditions. Geographic information systems and remote sensing offer potential solutions for characterizing visibility using models incorporating terrain and vegetation height. Visibility can be assessed using viewshed algorithms, and while previous research has demonstrated the utility of these algorithms across multiple fields, their use in wildland firefighter safety has yet to be explored. The goals of this study were to develop an approach for assessing visibility at the handline level, quantify the effects of spatial resolution on a lidar-driven visibility analysis, and demonstrate a set of spatial metrics that can be used to inform handline safety. Comparisons were made between elevation models derived from airborne lidar at varying spatial resolutions and those derived from LANDFIRE, a US-wide 30 m product. Coarser resolution inputs overestimated visibility by as much as 223%, while the finest-scale resolution input was not practical due to extreme processing times. Canopy cover and slope had strong linear relationships with visibility, with R2 values of 0.806 and 0.718, respectively. Visibility analyses, when conducted at an appropriate spatial resolution, can provide useful information to inform situational awareness in a wildland fire context. Evaluating situational awareness at the handline level prior to engaging a fire may help firefighters evaluate potential safety risks and more effectively plan handlines.

A metrics-based approach for modeling covariation of visual and ecological landscape qualities

Landscape ecological aesthetics is a relevant conceptual framework for studying landscape multi-functionality. While the relationships between aesthetic and ecological landscape qualities have been explored and debated in landscape research they have been addressed very little in spatially explicit approaches, and never in a dynamic way. However, a set of spatial metrics can be used to characterize the visual and ecological dimensions of landscape and changes in them. In this study, we propose a framework for analyzing covariation between visual and ecological landscape qualities based on spatial metrics measured from land-cover changes. We apply this framework to the urban agglomeration of Besançon (France) and its urban-rural fringes, which have been subject to several forms of change such as urbanization and agricultural transformations. Cross-mapping of visual and ecological variations reveals both their possible convergences and divergences in space. The study area is empirically affected by much more marked convergence (16.5%) than divergence (5.3%). This contribution to landscape ecological aesthetics provides insights for integrated landscape management with an alignment of visual and ecological goals for landscape sustainability.

Combining visual and noise characteristics of a neighborhood environment to model residential satisfaction: An application using GIS-based metrics

This paper focuses on the combined impact of sound and visibility features on residential satisfaction in a suburban context. Based on a modeling approach, the study presents an integrated analysis where a set of spatial metrics, describing visibility of landscape features and road-traffic noise, are associated with data from a survey of neighborhood satisfaction. This survey was conducted on a sample of 845 inhabitants living in a medium-size French city. Using a PLS path model, the main objective of this paper is to assess how visual and sound metrics combine to provide complementary explanations of neighborhood satisfaction. Moreover, the analysis focuses on assessing the extent to which a part of the heterogeneity of the residents’ neighborhood perception is due to their socio-economic position or to their neighborhood’s characteristics. The results show that visual and sound criteria influence residential satisfaction cumulatively, and that sensitivity to these criteria varies according to the socio-economic position of individuals, opposing specifically homeowners and tenants. By using digital spatial data and GIS methods, an integrated indicator is produced to map the spatial distribution of neighborhood satisfaction for all residential locations of the study area. In an urban planning context, such a spatially oriented approach can be considered as a decision-making tool for planning and development to identify high-stakes zones in order to improve the inhabitants’ quality of life.

Understanding the urban spatial structure of Sub-Saharan African cities using the case of urban development patterns of a Ghanaian city-region

Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa are undergoing massive spatial transformation owing to rapid urbanization. For many cities in the Global North, Latin America and Asia, spatial transformation has been traditionally characterised by a shift from monocentric to polycentric urban patterns. In the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, however, it is unclear whether the evolving spatial structure of cities conform to or are explained by existing urban geography models. This paper pursues twofold objectives: one, examines the evolution of the spatial structure of a Sub-Saharan African city-region and its relationship with mainstream urban geography models; and, two, explores the urban planning and policy implications of the spatial transformation. The study draws on spatially explicit data from Kumasi City-Region in Ghana, which is analysed with a set of spatial metrics and an urban growth model. The results indicate that, while the city-region's urban spatial structure before the turn of the Twenty-first century largely conforms to the traditional monocentric model, it is increasingly becoming deconcentrated and dispersive, which suggests a likely pending phase of coalescence in a stochastic fractal urban growth process. Contrary to what is observed in other parts of the world, the declining monocentricity has not transformed into a polycentric urban structure, rather, urban growth is becoming amorphous. There is high level of development spontaneity that cast an image of a city-region that is charting inefficient and unsustainable spatial development path. Urban scholars would have to transcend the frontiers of existing urban structure models to better depict the spatial evolution of sub-Saharan African cities like Kumasi City-Region, while Policy makers need to re-position the Ghanaian planning system to be more influential in delivering sustainable development patterns.

Second homes and urban landscape patterns in Mediterranean coastal tourism destinations

This paper discusses two recurring land use issues that are conventionally accepted when analyzing most of the Mediterranean mass coastal tourism destinations: the limited role of planning and the supposedly standardized nature of the resulting landscape. Based on a specific case study in the Catalan coastline, this paper presents analytical metrics and empirical data showing that, despite the controversial nature of the resulting urbanization and contrary to this common understanding, urban planning tools have been relevant in the shaping of the landscape of coastal settlements dominated by tourism and second homes. More precisely, the paper analyzes how, on the Catalan coast, partial planning tools have been able to create since the 1960s specific urban pieces with temporary residence uses that, beyond their actual limitations, shaped differentiated landscape structures with a particular landscape identity. To reach this conclusion, we have applied a set of spatial metrics at different scales to the analysis of the urban partial plans approved in the destination. Results allow the identification of the basic urban landscape patterns of the area, facilitate the understanding of the role of regulatory planning tools, and highlight the role of its evolution during the last 50 years in the process of the destination urban landscape shaping and transformation.

Spatial metrics to study urban patterns in growing and shrinking cities

This article reviews existing literature on spatial metrics, presenting a portfolio of metrics addressing the spatial patterns of growing and shrinking cities and discussing their potential and limitations. A wide and diverse set of spatial metrics was found. While these metrics address most of the identified spatial patterns of urban growth, spatial metrics used in urban shrinkage studies are much scarcer and not nearly sufficient to provide a comprehensive assessment of its spatial patterns. The article concludes that there is great potential for the development of new spatial metrics or mixed indicators, particularly in shrinkage contexts. The article builds on recent literature focusing on reviewing and developing metrics for particular spatial patterns (notably patterns of urban sprawl), while considering a very broad and multidisciplinary set of metrics. It focuses not only on the outcomes of urban growth but also on those of the increasingly common shrinking phenomenon.

Modelling Future Urban Scenarios in Developing Countries: An Application Case Study in Lagos, Nigeria

We consider urban sustainability issues in developing countries, with a focus on urban growth. The need for urban management tools that are able to provide prospective scenarios is addressed. Urban simulations can represent a useful approach to understanding the consequences of current planning policies—or their incompleteness. Nevertheless, simulations of future urban growth are usually quite difficult without tools which embrace the complexity of the urban system. We describe an urban-growth simulation for the city of Lagos in Nigeria, in which an urban cellular automata (CA) prototype is used. We propose a bottom-up approach which integrates land-use factors with the dynamic approach of CA for modelling future urban land-use scenarios. The model for Lagos was calibrated and tested with the aid of measured time-series data on land use, through a set of spatial metrics and κ-coefficients. A twenty-year simulation, until 2020, was run. The simulation results are realistic and achieve a high level of detail, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Urban sustainability in developing countries’ megacities: modelling and predicting future urban growth in Lagos

In the first part of the paper urban sustainability issues in African countries are considered with a focus on urban growth. The need for urban management tools that are able to provide prospective scenarios is addressed. Urban simulations can represent a useful approach to an understanding of the consequences of current planning policies or their incompleteness. Simulations of future urban growth are usually quite difficult without tools that embrace the complexity of the urban system. The second part of this paper describes an urban growth simulation for the city of Lagos in Nigeria using a dynamic spatial model prototype. We propose a bottom-up approach, integrating land-use factors with a dynamic approach for modelling future urban land-use scenarios. The model for Lagos was calibrated and tested using measured time-series data on land-use, through a set of spatial metrics and Kappa ( κ) coefficients. Afterwards, a twenty-year simulation was run until 2020. The simulation results are realistic and relatively accurate, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed model. This work was performed in the framework of the European Commission’s MOLAND project.