Darkness on the Edge of Town: Mapping Urban and Peri-Urban Australia Using Nighttime Satellite Imagery

Low-density settlements and land use changes in a Mediterranean urban region

“…Moreover, the landscape 'contamination' by low-density settlements and its consequences on both local and regional scales should be monitored by integrating land cover and census maps with ancillary sources like satellite imagery and field surveys (e.g. Sutton, Goetz, Fildes, Forster, & Ghosh, 2010). These approaches would contribute to the design of specific measures against sprawl-driven soil and landscape degradation possibly occurring in Mediterranean suburban regions.…”

Urban Form, Air Pollution, and CO2Emissions in Large U.S. Metropolitan Areas

“…Areas with a light intensity value less than 13 were considered rural; those with a light intensity value of 13 or greater were considered urbanized (Figure 2C). A similar procedure was performed by Sutton et al (2010) to classify rural, periurban, and urban areas in Australia. Although Sutton et al (2010) classified areas with a light intensity value of 11 or higher as urban, they noted that "this threshold for Australia is much lower than what it would be for the United States" (122).…”

“…A similar procedure was performed by Sutton et al (2010) to classify rural, periurban, and urban areas in Australia. Although Sutton et al (2010) classified areas with a light intensity value of 11 or higher as urban, they noted that "this threshold for Australia is much lower than what it would be for the United States" (122). In some metropolitan areas, such as New York, these "pockets" of urbanization covered nearly the entire land area, whereas in others, such as Las Vegas, they constituted a small proportion of the total area.…”

Using Nighttime Satellite Imagery as a Proxy Measure of Human Well-Being

“…One aspect of urban structure is the extent and density of peri-urban or exurban development. This kind of development varies dramatically between the United States and Australia despite the fact that the urban areas of both countries developed extensively during the post World War II automotive era [60]. Exploration of the relationship between these diverging and unprecedented manifestations of urban form and measures of human well-being is likely to be an active research area for the near future.…”