Atlas of Urban Expansion
Section 1: A Global Sample of 120 Cities, 1990-2000
This section contains pairs of land cover maps derived from on satellite images of 120 cities and metropolitan areas in two time periods, one circa 1990 and one circa 2000.
In an earlier 2005 study, we identified a total of 3,945 large cities with populations of 100,000 or more that were home to a total of 2.12 billion people or three-quarters of the world's urban population in the year 2000. The global sample of 120 cities is a stratified sample from this universe (Angel et al. 2005, chapter 2). It includes cities from nine geographic regions, four population size classes, and four per capita income classes. The nine regions were: (1) Europe - including both Western and Eastern Europe, as well as the Russian Federation; (2) East Asia and the Pacific - comprising China, the two Koreas, Mongolia and the Pacific islands; (3) Latin America and the Caribbean; (4) Northern Africa; (5) Other Developed Countries - comprising the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand; (6) South and Central Asia, including Iran; (7) Southeast Asia; (8) Sub-Saharan Africa; and (9) Western Asia, including Turkey. A minimum of eight cities and a maximum of 16 were selected from each of these nine regions. In the later phase of this study reported here, we renamed "Other Developed Countries" as "Land-Rich Developed Countries", developed countries that had more than 0.6 hectares of arable land per person. We also moved Japan to the "Europe" region, and renamed it "Europe and Japan". The resulting nine regions and the distribution of the sample cities in these regions are shown in the map below.
The Nine World Regions and the 120 Cities in the Global Sample of Cities, 1990-2000
For each city in this sample, we obtained two medium-resolution Landsat satellite images, one for each time period. These images were classified into built-up and non-built-up 30x30 meter pixels, using a thematic extraction algorithm (Angel et al. 2005, chapter 3).
Using 10,000 Google Earth validation sites, Potere et al. (2009) later reported that pixels identified as built-up in our sample were found to be built-up in Google Earth 91 percent of the time and those identified in Google Earth as urban were identified in our sample 89 percent of the time, a relatively high level of accuracy.
For each city in the sample we also obtained population figures for two census periods (circa 1990 and 2000) for the administrative districts encompassing its built-up area. We interpolated the population in these districts for the dates corresponding to the satellite images for each city, assuming a constant rate of population growth between census periods. Using ArcGIS software, we then calculated the metrics described below within the relevant administrative districts for all 120 cities in this global sample.
Download jpg images below:
| City | Country | Region | Maps Page | Metric Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accra | Ghana | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Addis Ababa | Ethiopia | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Ahvaz | Iran | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Akashi | Japan | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Alexandria | Egypt | Northern Africa | Download | Download |
| Algiers | Algeria | Northern Africa | Download | Download |
| Anqing | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Ansan | Korea, Republic of | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Astrakhan | Russian Federation | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Aswan | Egypt | Northern Africa | Download | Download |
| Bacolod | Philippines | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Baku | Azerbaijan | Western Asia | Download | Download |
| Bamako | Mali | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Bandung | Indonesia | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Bangkok | Thailand | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Banjul | Gambia | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Beijing | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Budapest | Hungary | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Buenos Aires | Argentina | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Cairo | Egypt | Northern Africa | Download | Download |
| Caracas | Venezuela | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Casablanca | Morocco | Northern Africa | Download | Download |
| Castellon | Spain | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Cebu | Philippines | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Changzhi | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Chicago | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Chinju | Korea, Republic of | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Chonan | Korea, Republic of | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Cincinnati | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Coimbatore | India | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Dhaka | Bangladesh | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Fukuoka | Japan | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Gorgan | Iran | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Guadalajara | Mexico | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Guangzhou | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Guaruja | Brazil | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Guatemala City | Guatemala | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Harare | Zimbabwe | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Ho Chi Minh City | Vietnam | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Hong Kong | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Houston | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Hyderabad | India | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Ibadan | Nigeria | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Ilheus | Brazil | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Ipoh | Malaysia | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Istanbul | Turkey | Western Asia | Download | Download |
| Jaipur | India | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Jalna | India | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Jequie | Brazil | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Johannesburg | South Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Kampala | Uganda | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Kanpur | India | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Kigali | Rwanda | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Kingston | Jamaica | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Kolkata | India | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Kuala Lumpur | Malaysia | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Kuwait City | Kuwait | Western Asia | Download | Download |
| Leipzig | Germany | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Le Mans | France | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Leshan | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| London | United Kingdom | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Los Angeles | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Madrid | Spain | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Malatya | Turkey | Western Asia | Download | Download |
| Manila | Philippines | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Marrakech | Morocco | Northern Africa | Download | Download |
| Medan | Indonesia | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Mexico City | Mexico | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Milano | Italy | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Minneapolis | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Modesto | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Montevideo | Uruguay | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Moscow | Russian Federation | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Mumbai | India | South and Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Ndola | Zambia | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Oktyabrsky | Russian Federation | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Ouagadougou | Burkina Faso | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Palembang | Indonesia | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Palermo | Italy | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Paris | France | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Philadelphia | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Pittsburgh | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Port Sudan | Sudan | Northern Africa | Download | Download |
| Pretoria | South Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa | Download | Download |
| Puna | India | South and Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Pusan | Korea, Republic of | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Rajshahi | Bangladesh | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Ribeirao Preto | Brazil | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Saidpur | Bangladesh | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Sanaa | Yemen | Western Asia | Download | Download |
| San Salvador | El Salvador | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Santiago | Chile | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Sao Paulo | Chile | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Seoul | Korea, Republic of | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Shanghai | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Sheffield | United Kingdom | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Shimkent | Kazakhstan | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Singapore | Singapore | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Songkhla | Thailand | Southeast Asia | Download | Download |
| Springfield | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| St Catharines | Canada | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Sydney | Australia | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Tacomac | United States | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Tebessa | Algeria | Northern Africa | Download | Download |
| Teheran | Iran | South and Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Tel Aviv | Israel | Western Asia | Download | Download |
| Thessaloniki | Greece | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Tijuana | Mexico | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Tokyo | Japan | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Ulan Bator | Mongolia | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Valledupar | Colombia | Latin America & the Caribbean | Download | Download |
| Victoria | Canada | Land-Rich Developed Countries | Download | Download |
| Vijayawada | India | South & Central Asia | Download | Download |
| Warsaw | Poland | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Wien | Austria | Europe & Japan | Download | Download |
| Yerevan | Armenia | Western Asia | Download | Download |
| Yiyang | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Yulin | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Zhengzhou | China | Eastern Asia & the Pacific | Download | Download |
| Zugdidi | Georgia | Western Asia | Download | Download |