Linking structural urban characteristics derived from high resolution satellite data to population distribution

Kurzfassung

Static urban morphology can characterize an urban agglomeration. But the dynamics of its population also distinguish urban appearance. This study correlates the static element of physical urban structures with the dynamic element of spatial and temporal behaviour of the population by means of high resolution satellite data. In the process an object-oriented urban land cover classification serves as a basis to structure the complex urban environment in homo-geneous zones. The zones are defined by physical characteristics like built-up density, building height and land use. Based on two different ancillary input data—total population for the large spatial unit of a district and punctual population data collected from fieldwork—two methods for population distribution are presented. A top-down approach interpolates the total population on a local scale based on physical urban structures mapped from remote sensing data. A bottom-up approach extrapolates the punctual information onto the district level. An accuracy assessment shows that the results agree in their dimension with results from another study in the particular district. The methods have the capability to support urban planning or management operations with up-to-date population information. This becomes especially important in the fast changing and extremely dynamic urban areas of developing countries suffering from uncontrolled sprawl, densification and thus, a lack of reliable, up-to-date spatial data.