[Urbanstudy] MEASURING THE HUMAN URBAN FOOTPRINT

[Vinay Baindur]

http://urban-age.net/media/objects/articles/measuring-the-human-urban-footprint






MEASURING THE HUMAN URBAN FOOTPRINT
  DENSITY LEVELS AND POPULATION SIZE OF 129 METROPOLITAN REGIONS

 <http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/CHW_R1_World_Density_Map-01.jpg>

Following on from the analysis of urban well-being, the data on these pages
shows the result of a new mapping exercise that covers the same 129
‘extended metropolitan regions’ across the world, with a total population
of 1.2 billion people, representing 35 per cent of the world’s urban
population in 2010. From Cotonou in Benin, with just more than 1.5 million
people, to the Tokyo metropolitan region, with more than 42 million
inhabitants, our study both measures and illustrates density patterns in
urban regions across all five continents, expanding LSE Cities’
longstanding interest in the links between physical and social form. Using
Google Earth satellite imagery, we captured a ‘snapshot’ of where people
live and estimated ‘net densities’ by systematically tracing the built-up
area of each metropolitan region – including central zones, satellite towns
and the peripheral areas (a detailed methodology can be found online). The
fact that 23 million people in Manila occupy a space one eighth the size of
the same number of New Yorkers, or that Atlanta in the USA is 25 times
larger than Hong Kong with roughly the same population, says something
about the capacity and resilience of urban form as well as physical and
geographical constraints.

The map above shows the size of the extended metropolitan regions and their
density, with darker blue indicating greater concentration of people and
lighter blue more sparsely populated city regions. It shows that density
levels vary significantly across and within world regions, with the highest
densities concentrated in North Africa, the Middle East, South and
South-east Asia and – not surprisingly – more sprawling cities in North
America and Australia.

To get a sense of the spatial dynamics of these city regions, we mapped 12
cases at the same scale with core built-up areas in black and peripheral
areas in grey. By comparing the footprint of the world’s largest urban
conurbation in Tokyo with Atlanta, our sample’s most land-hungry city
region, we see that roughly the same amount of land is occupied by 42
million as by 7.5 million people. Meanwhile, the map of London shows that
14 million people are spread across South-east England.

Some of the densest metropolitan regions in the world are illustrated
opposite, arranged in three rows in descending order of density. Lahore,
Hong Kong and Kinshasha – where more than nine million people live in 368
square kilometres (228 square miles) of single storey housing – reveal very
diverse spatial patterns of hyper-density. Cairo, Manila and Bogotá
represent diverse African, Asian and South American typologies of average
high density, while Lagos, Lima and Ho Chi Minh City accommodate radically
different population sizes with similar levels of density.
 TOKYO, JAPAN

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/01-CHW_R1_Density_map_Tokyo_left_left_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 42,607,376 - Area 7,408 km² - Density 5,752 pp/km²
ATLANTA, USA

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/02-CHW_R1_Density_map_Atlanta_left_middle_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 7,506,267 - Area 6,888 km² - Density 1,090 pp/km²
LONDON, UK

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/03-CHW_R1_Density_map_London_left_right_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 14,830,051 - Area 2,668 km² - Density 5,559 pp/km²
LAHORE, PAKISTAN

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/04-CHW_R1_Density_map_Lahore_top_left_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 13,335,777 - Area 486 km² - Density 27,434 pp/km²
HONG KONG SAR, CHINA

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/05-CHW_R1_Density_map_HK_top_right_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 7,069,378 - Area 273 km² - Density 25,933 pp/km²
KINSHASA, CONGO DRC

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/06-CHW_R1_Density_map_Kinshasa_top_middle_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 9,426,523 - Area 368 km² - Density 25,640 pp/km²
CAIRO, EGYPT

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/07-CHW_R1_Density_map_Cairo_middle_left_withDs-01.jpg>

Population 24,243,250 - Area 1,203 km² - Density 20,152 pp/km²
MANILA, PHILIPPINES

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/08-CHW_R1_Density_map_Manila_middle_middle_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 23,065,889 - Area 1,149km² - Density 20,081 pp/km²
BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/09-CHW_R1_Density_map_Bogota_middle_right_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 9,840,818 - Area 494 km² - Density 19,915 pp/km²
LAGOS, NIGERIA

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/10-CHW_R1_Density_map_Lagos_bottom_left_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 15,373,213 - Area 1,174 km² - Density 13,100 pp/km²
LIMA, PERU

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/11-CHW_R1_Density_map_Lima_bottom_right_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 10,054,952 - Area 779 km² - Density 12,900 pp/km²
HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM

<http://urban-age.net/files/2011/11/12-CHW_R1_Density_map_HoChiMinhCity_bottom_middle_withDS-01.jpg>

Population 12,592,100 - Area 1,084 km² - Density 11,618 pp/km²

Source: The population of the Extended Metropolitan Regions were based on
national statistical sources and the UN World Urbanisation Prospects, 2009
Revision. All other information was calculated from Google Earth Pro
satellite imagery (various years).
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