The changing face of urban growth: An analysis using earth observation data

Abstract

This paper represents research effort to monitor the development of urban morphology using earth observation data. For the city of Cologne in Germany, satellite images over a time period of more than 30 years are analyzed regarding the urban development. These urban footprints describe the 2-D spatial urban extension of the city at a given point in time. These data are spatially intersected with a geometrically highly resolved 3-D building model derived from a digital surface model. The data set allows for a 2-D and 3-D growth analysis of Cologne for more than three decades based on three variables: area, building volume and the number of buildings. The analysis underlines the hypothesis that recent urban growth is much more space consuming than historic urban developments.