Evaluation of the urban environment using GIS and Remote Sensing

The assessment, protection and management of urban green spaces and the encouragement of more sustainable growth is becoming central to local and national development initiatives. Policies aim to meet a growing demand for residential developments while attempting to maintain a high quality environment by preserving and parks and gardens.

The spatial and multidimensional nature of environmental quality requires the integration of a large number of overlapping, geographically referenced datasets. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer an ideal framework to integrate and analyse such data sets.

The proposed research will investigate the degree to which quantitative measures of the quality of urban environments can be derived from a range of environmental variables. The focus will be on using environmental variables that can be mapped across a whole cityscape and so there will be a requirement to make use of remotely sensed data. It is anticipated that the output from the research will be a methodology to create an index which captures quantitative measures of urban quality in city environments with potential application for urban planning and sustainable development.

For specific enquiries about the project, please contact the supervisor at [Email Address Removed]