Stefan Fina

Who sprawls most? Exploring the patterns of urban growth across 26 European countries

In recent years considerable progress has been made in the understanding of urban land-use change and its dynamic interrelationships with economic, social, and environmental systems. From a quantitative perspective, advancements in GIS technologies, the increased availability of high-resolution remote sensing data, and new GIS-based spatial metrics of urban form and urban growth have helped to establish methods for comparative spatial analysis. However, due to the lack of homogeneous data, very few empirical studies have systematically addressed urbanisation and urban growth at a cross-national level. With this background, this paper presents a comparative assessment of urban land-use change across twenty-six European countries. On two scales of analysis, country and 20 km cells, we found a surprising variability in terms of urban growth and its territorial shape. We argue that these differences cannot be explained by varying demographic or economic growth pressures alone. Indicators on the composition, pattern, and density of urban growth illustrate that country-specific drivers of urban land-use change play an important role for the shaping of Europes settlement structure.

Monitoring urban sprawl in Germany: towards a GIS-based measurement and assessment approach

During the 1990s, the phenomenon of urban sprawl received growing attention in the international planning debate. However, a survey of the literature yields no agreement in terms of defining and measuring urban sprawl. The absence of a common understanding constrains the analysis of sprawls causes, costs and non-monetary consequences as well as the formulation of planning strategies towards economically, ecologically and socially acceptable land use patterns. On this background, we present an indicator-based framework for the measurement and assessment of urban sprawl and the quantitative derivation of certain sprawl types described in this article. The GIS-based tool relies on the assumption that sprawl is a multidimensional phenomenon which can be measured only with a multiple-indicator approach. We introduce indicators that refer to three specific impact dimensions of urban sprawl (density, pattern and surface) and present single-indicator and aggregated maps for the whole territory of Germany. The article ends with some conclusions on how to effectively implement the model within the existing national and state land use monitoring approaches.

Walkability is only part of the story : walking for transportation in Stuttgart, Germany

In modern Western societies people often lead inactive and sedentary lifestyles, even though there is no doubt that physical activity and health are related. From an urban planning point of view it would be highly desirable to develop built environments in a way that supports people in leading more active and healthy lifestyles. Within this context there are several methods, predominantly used in the US, to measure the suitability of built environments for walking and cycling. Empirical studies show that people living in highly walkable areas are more physically active (for example, walk more or cycle more). The question is, however, whether these results are also valid for European cities given their different urban planning characteristics and infrastructure standards. To answer this question we used the Walkability-Index and the Walk Score to empirically investigate the associations between walkability and active transportation in the city of Stuttgart, Germany. In a sample of household survey data (n = 1.871) we found a noticeable relationship between walkability and active transportation—the more walkable an area was, the more active residents were. Although the statistical effect is small, the health impact might be of relevance. Being physically active is multi-determined and not only affected by the walkability of an area. We highlight these points with an excursion into research that the health and exercise sciences contribute to the topic. We propose to strengthen interdisciplinary research between the disciplines and to specifically collect data that captures the influence of the environment on physical activity in the future.

Dichter dran! Neue Möglichkeiten der Vernetzung von Geobasis-, Statistik- und Erdbeobachtungsdaten zur räumlichen Analyse und Visualisierung von Stadtstrukturen mit Dichteoberflächen und -profilen

ZusammenfassungIn der Stadtforschung und Stadtplanung fungiert die „Dichte“ als eines der wichtigsten Maße für die Beschreibung der baulichen Physis einer Stadt. Im Vergleich zu anderen Maßen – genannt seien beispielhaft die „Nutzungsmischung“, die „Polyzentralität“ oder die „Kompaktheit“ – erscheint die „Dichte“ auf den ersten Blick als objektiv ermittelbar und gut verständlich. Bei näherer Betrachtung handelt es sich jedoch um ein Konzept, das sich einer einfachen empirischen Ermittlung weitgehend entzieht. Bis heute gibt es kein international anerkanntes Dichtemaß und Dichteangaben für verschiedene Länder, Regionen und Städte sind in der Regel nicht oder nur eingeschränkt vergleichbar. In diesem Beitrag werden die analytischen Möglichkeiten neuer Geodatenanwendungen für eine objektive und transparente Ermittlung der baulichen und nutzungsbezogenen Dichte städtischer Siedlungsgebiete aufgezeigt. Eine Fallstudie für das Gebiet der Stadt Köln demonstriert an ausgewählten Themen die Einsatzmöglichkeiten kleinräumiger Dichtedaten.AbstractIn urban research and planning, “density” is one of the most important measures to analyze a city’s structural morphology. Compared to other measures such as “neighborhood mix of uses”, “polycentricity” or “compactness”, density seems to be a rather objective and comprehensible choice. However, when having a closer look at it, it is a rather complex concept with different measurement options. There is no internationally accepted standard for the implementation of density or density measures that would allow for a robust comparison of different countries, regions or cities. This article deals with the analytical opportunities that new geodata options offer with regards to an objective and transparent measurement of cities’ structural and use-related densities. A case study for the city of Cologne demonstrates possible applications based on high-resolution and disaggregated density data.

Post-socialist Sprawl: A Cross-Country Comparison

Abstract This paper presents a land-use change analysis of five Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. We utilize CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) Land-Cover and Urban Audit data for two distinct time periods: 1990–2000 and 2000–2006 aggregated at urban, suburban and non-metropolitan geographies. The literature on post-socialist cities suggests that urbanization rates and patterns in the post-socialist period are quite variable and divergent, both “inter”nationally and “intra”-nationally, and we expect to find both spatial and temporal differences. We compare and contrast urbanization patterns at the national scale, using cities and their functional urban regions as the unit of comparative analysis. Our results show that unlike other eastern European countries, metropolitan areas in the former German Democratic Republic began sprawling (defined as a decline in urban density) in the 1990s. Similar changes only became visible in other CEE countries later during the 2000s. We also demonstrate that larger cities which were better connected to the political elite and more economically integrated with global investment patterns experienced more extensive urban sprawl than their smaller and mid-sized counterparts.

Ist die „Autoabhängigkeit“ von Bewohnern städtischer und ländlicher Siedlungsgebiete messbar?

ZusammenfassungUnter Raum- und Verkehrswissenschaftlern besteht Einigkeit dahingehend, dass städtische und ländliche Siedlungsgebiete im Zeitverlauf autoabhängiger und damit auch energieintensiver geworden sind. In diesem Beitrag wird „Autoabhängigkeit“ als ein objektives Angewiesensein auf die Verfügbarkeit eines privaten Pkw infolge des Fehlens von Mobilitätsalternativen verstanden. Vorgestellt wird ein methodischer Ansatz für eine standortdifferenzierte Bewertung der Siedlungsstruktur bezüglich ihres Grades der Autoabhängigkeit. Dies basiert auf einem Indikatorenkonzept, welches auf die Verfügbarkeit und Qualität des öffentlichen Personennahverkehrs sowie auf die Erreichbarkeit mit nicht-motorisierten Verkehrsmitteln abstellt. Der für die Region Stuttgart modellhaft erprobte Ansatz ermöglicht eine wahlweise absolute oder relative Bewertung der Autoabhängigkeit in beliebigen räumlichen Bezugssystemen. Es kann aufgezeigt werden, dass auch in einer durch den öffentlichen Verkehr überdurchschnittlich gut erschlossenen Region wie Stuttgart Siedlungsgebiete existieren, in denen eine hohe strukturelle Autoabhängigkeit angenommen werden muss.AbstractThere is much agreement among spatial and transport planners that urban and rural areas have increasingly become dependent on motorized transport over time, and have therefore also become more energy intensive. This paper understands “automobile dependence” as a form of structural dependence on the availability of the private motor car which results from a lack of alternative mobility options. It introduces a methodological approach for a location sensitive assessment of settlement structures with regards to their degree of automobile dependence. The methodology is based on an indicator concept that analyses the availability and quality of public transport and the accessibility of critical facilities with non-motorized transport options. The study approach is implemented in the Stuttgart region and allows for an absolute or relative assessment of car dependency in various spatial units. The results provide evidence for the existence of urban areas with a significant structural automobile dependence in Stuttgart, even in a region where public transport is generally highly developed.

Strategies to reduce land consumption. A comparison between italian and german city regions

The purpose of this paper is to develop robust comparative information on land use and land use changes (LUCs) for representative European cities (Stuttgart in Southern Germany, and Milano and Brescia in Northern Italy). In the paper we present a measurement approach to analyze recent LUCs in the outskirts of the three cities and critically evaluate the results. Apart from the comparative results between the selected cities, the innovation in this study lies both in comparing for the first time Italian-German cases on these topics and in the novel approach to standardize this type of information for international policy assessments. In conclusion, we return to two main questions: 1. what indicators can be used to monitor drivers and environmental effects of LUCs; 2. what kind of urban containment strategies and policies can be identified as being effective.

The changing face of urban growth: An analysis using earth observation data

This paper is a research effort to monitor the development of urban morphology using earth observation data. For the city of Cologne in Germany, satellite images over a time period of more than 30 years are analyzed regarding the urban development. These urban footprints describe the 2-D spatial urban extension of the city at a given point in time. These data are spatially intersected with a geometrically highly resolved 3-D building model derived from a digital surface model. The data set allows for a 2-D and 3-D growth analysis of Cologne for more than three decades based on three variables: area, building volume and the number of buildings. The analysis underlines the hypothesis that recent urban growth is much more space consuming than historic urban developments.