How We Live and What That Means - A Character Study with Data from Space

Abstract

How we develop and shape the space where we live and do business determines different living conditions. How ecologically, socially or economically reasonable and resilient these structures are, however, is not always easy to answer. Geodata are mandatory for an evaluation and assessment. Remote sensing with its diverse data allows us to record objects on the Earth's surface, the topography and the atmosphere. And with it, it becomes possible to describe different living environments in high spatial resolution and in a quantitative manner. Spatial indicators from these data can make developments tangible. In this paper, the focus is on what it means how we live with respect to land consumption. Based on a land-cover classification using Sentinel-2 data as well as on population data from the national census for Germany, it is evaluated what different spatial structures mean in terms of land consumption. Various scenarios are developed to evaluate the impact of settlement types on land consumption. In this sense the aim is to discuss how reasonable and resilient our way of living is.