Comparison of Eastern and Western Europe spatial development of cities based on Remote sensing data

Abstract

Urbanization is one of the most dynamic processes in the context of global change. In this study the challenge is to find similarities and differences in spatial urban growth and its settlement patterns of cities located in Eastern and Western parts of Europe. The hypothesis of the research study is that the spatial dynamics and its respective settlement patterns show significant differences in cities having undergone the transformation process from a socialistic to a capitalistic phase in comparison to purely capitalistic ones. For this study nine different cities are chosen (four cities for each zone, West and East, plus one city including both parts according to the special historical situation – Berlin). Landsat satellite imagery enables a spatiotemporal analysis in four time steps for the years 1975, 1990, 2000 and 2010 with the corresponding time interval of about 10 years. Urban footprints as a crucial part of research are derived by object oriented classification techniques. Based on the classified urban patterns the dimensions of spatial growth are analyzed and compared in order to derive long-term trends and characteristics of cities under consideration. Beyond this, landscape metrics (e.g. Patch size) are applied for a quantitative analysis of the complex and various settlement patterns. Provided outcomes will be decisive while answering the following question: Is there any significant difference in the development of spatial patterns between Western and Eastern European cities? The study shows the diverse patterns of spatial urban development in Eastern and Western parts of Europe, as well as different magnitude of spatial growth of cities, especially due to the influence of socialistic and capitalistic systems.