Earth Observation for Sustainable Urban Planning in Developing Countries: Needs, Trends, and Future Directions

Cities are constantly changing and authorities face immense challenges in obtaining accurate and timely data to effectively manage urban areas. This is particularly problematic in the developing world where municipal records are often unavailable or not updated. Spaceborne earth observation (EO) has...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of planning literature 2015-05, Vol.30 (2), p.149-160
Main Authors: Musakwa, Walter, van Niekerk, Adriaan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cities
Decision making
Developing countries
LDCs
Sustainability
Sustainable design
Trends
Urban development
Urban economics
Urban planning
Urbanization
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Summary:Cities are constantly changing and authorities face immense challenges in obtaining accurate and timely data to effectively manage urban areas. This is particularly problematic in the developing world where municipal records are often unavailable or not updated. Spaceborne earth observation (EO) has great potential for providing up-to-date spatial information about urban areas. This article reviews the application of EO for supporting urban planning. In particular, the article overviews case studies where EO was used to derive products and indicators required by urban planners. The review concludes that EO has sufficiently matured in recent years but that a shift from the current focus on purely science-driven EO applications to the provision of useful information for day-to-day decision-making and urban sustainability monitoring is clearly needed.
ISSN:0885-4122
1552-6593
DOI:10.1177/0885412214557817