Article

Abstract

• Most of future population growth will take place in the world's cities and towns. Yet, there is no well-established, consistent way to measure either urban land or people. Even census-based urban concepts and measures undergo frequent revision, impeding rigorous comparisons over time and place. This study presents a new spatial approach to derive consistent urban proxies for the US. It compares census-designated urban blocks with proxies for land-based classifications of built-up areas derived from time-series of the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL) for 1990-2010. This comparison provides a new way to understand urban structure and its changes: Most land that is more than 50% built-up, and people living on such land, are officially classified as urban. However, 30% of the census-designated urban population and land is located in less built-up areas that can be characterized as mainly suburban and peri-urban in nature. Such insights are important starting points for a new urban research program: creating globally and temporally consistent proxies to guide modelling of urban change.

Creator

• Montgomery, Mark R
• Balk, Deborah
• Jones, Bryan
• Clark, Anastasia
• Leyk, Stefan

Date Issued

• 2018-01-01

Academic Affiliation

• Geography

Journal Title

• PLoS One

Journal Issue/Number

• 12

Journal Volume

• 13

File Extent

• 0208487-0208487

Subject

• Cities
• Censuses
• Natural Resources
• Urbanization
• United States
• Residence Characteristics
• Population Growth
• Humans
• Satellite Imagery
• Construction Industry
• Urban Population
• Comprehension

Last Modified

• 2019-12-05

Identifier

• PubMed ID: 30586443

Resource Type

• Article

Rights Statement

• In Copyright

ISSN

• 1932-6203

Language

• English [eng]

Relationships

Items

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Visibility	Actions
	understandingUrbanizationAStudyOfCensusAndSatelliteDeriv.pdf	2019-12-05	Public	Download