Quantifying the city's green area potential gain using remote sensing data

Teresa Santos, José António Tenedório, José Alberto Gonçalves

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

61 Citations (Scopus)
274 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Information about green spaces available in a city is essential for urban planning. Urban green areas are generally assessed through environmental indicators that reflect the city's quality of life and urban comfort. A methodology based on 3D measure and analysis of green urban areas at the city scale is presented. Two products are proposed: (1) measuring current vegetation cover at ground level through object-oriented classification of WorldView-2 imagery; and (2) estimating potential green cover at rooftop level using 3D data obtained by LiDAR sensor. The methodology, implemented in Lisbon, Portugal, demonstrates that: (1) remote sensing imagery provides powerful tools for master planning and policy analysis regarding green urban area expansion; and (2) measures of urban sustainability cannot be solely based on indicators obtained from 2D geographical information. In fact, 2D urban indicators should be complemented by 3D modelling of geographic data.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1247
Pages (from-to)1-16
Number of pages16
JournalSustainability
Volume8
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Keywords

  • GIS
  • Green roofs
  • Green urban areas
  • LiDAR

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