A multifaceted approach to understanding dynamic urban processes: satellites, surveys, and censuses

Deborah L Balk, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research, deborah.balk@baruch.cuny.edu (Presenter)
Bryan Jones, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research, bryan.jones@baruch.cuny.edu
Zhen Liu, CUNY Institute for Demographic Research and Brown University, zhen.liu@baruch.cuny.edu
Mark Montgomery, Population Council, mmontgomery@popcouncil.org
Son Nghiem, NASA JPL, son.v.nghiem@jpl.nasa.gov
Martion Pesaresi, JRC, martino.pesaresi@jrc.ec.europa.eu

Urbanization will arguably be the most significant demographic trend of the 21st century, particularly in fast-growing regions of the developing world. Characterizing urbanization in a spatial context, however, is a difficult task given only the moderate resolution data provided by traditional sources of demographic data (i.e., censuses and surveys). Using the case study of Ho Chi Minh City we demonstrate how new satellite data products and new analysis of existing satellite data, when combined with new applications of census and survey microdata, can reveal more about cities and urbanization in combination than either data type can by itself.

We overlay demographic/census micro-data and remotely sensed data to address two questions; (1) how well do satellite derived measures of urban intensity correlate with demographic measures, and (2) how well are temporal changes in the data correlated. Using spatial regression techniques, we then estimate statistical relationships between the different types of remotely sensed data sets to assess the ability demographic changes to predict urban changes as detected by two different satellite measures of change. We use two much different types of satellite data -- the Dense Sample Method (DSM) analysis of the NASA scatterometer data and new built-up area data from the Global Human Settlement Layer of the JRC – which respectively proxy for increases in building heights (vertical expansion) and impervious surface-type changes (horizontal expansion). These different satellite-derived data products help us to better understand the evolution of the built environment and urban form, while the underlying demographic data provide information regarding composition of urban population change. Combining these types of data yields important, high resolution spatial information that provides a more accurate understanding of urban processes.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  Theme 4: Human influence on global ecosystems   (Mon 4:30 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Nghiem, Son: Mega Urban Changes and Impacts in the Decade of the 2000s ...details

Poster Location ID: 20