Land Accounting and Territorial Development
Use Case Description
The effective management of urban growth is crucial for ensuring that infrastructure development keeps pace with expanding urban areas and population growth, and that liveability and environmental sustainability is improved. Earth Observation (EO) data objectively pinpoint areas where these objectives are jeopardised. EO-based data offers numerous advantages when assessing territorial development by quantifying changes in urban land use and land cover, growth in built-up extent, population density, and the growth of informal settlements.
The advantage of EO in comparison to traditional in-situ sources of data is that it is global, comprehensive, accurate, repeatable, and timely. Moreover, digital datasets allow flexible aggregation with other types of socio-economic information to derive relevant analysis of urban realities. Urban planners and policymakers can leverage this rich dataset to inform a wide range of strategic decisions.
