Frontiers of urbanization: Identifying and explaining urbanization hot spots in the south of Mexico City using human and remote sensing

Abstract

This article applies a multi-method approach to develop a better measurement of urbanization dynamics using remote and human sensing based on a GIS platform. The results demonstrate the benefits of bringing human and remote sensing sources together in a framework of hot spot analysis for a megacity such as Mexico City. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that human and remote sensing work well together in detecting the expansion of illegal urban settlements. Looking at the driving factors of illegal settlements, the existence of strong association between the expansion of illegal urban settlements and socioeconomic factors such as unemployment, provides some answers and reveals new questions. Illegal urban growth often leads to the loss of ecological areas in the urban frontiers, especially in areas where the urbanization potential is high. As a consequence, there are conflicts with legal settlers who dislike the illegal expansion. This approach can be extended to and replicated in new urbanizing areas, in particular in Africa and Asia

Human and remote sensing data to investigate the frontiers of urbanization in the south of Mexico City

“…2). A graphical abstract can be found in the associated publication [4]. In the following analysis, statistically significant urbanization hot spots were identified and investigated based on human and remote sensing.…”

“…The intersect tool made it possible to identify the precise number of these overlapping cells. To calculate how much human sensing explained the observed urbanization by remote sensing, we analyzed the number of cells belonging to hot spots with 99% confidence for both data sets [4].…”

“…The data set includes 971 complaints concerning violations of the status of the conservation area (see Fig. 1 and related paper [4] for an explanation of “conservation area”). The smallest available basic geostatistical area (AGEB) contained a shape file with population data already included in the attributed table and a table containing economic characteristics for the Federal District of Mexico City.…”

“…The data presented here were originally collected for the article “Frontiers of Urbanization: Identifying and Explaining Urbanization Hot Spots in the South of Mexico City Using Human and Remote Sensing” (Rodriguez et al 2017) [4]. They were divided into three databases (remote sensing, human sensing, and census information), using a multi-method approach with the goal of analyzing the impact of urbanization on protected areas in southern Mexico City.…”

“…VGI was obtained from the PAOT (on September 3, 2015) and 2010 census data was downloaded from Mexico׳s National Census Bureau, (INEGI, 2010), both open access. For further analysis, ArcGIS 10.3 was used.Data formatTIF (analyzed), SHP, DBF, TBX (ArcGIS toolbox), python file.Experimental factorsThe analysis based on a grid obtained through optimal value of autocorrelation using ArcGIS 10.3, the optimized hot spot analysis tool.Experimental featuresCombination of remote and human sensing (steps 1 and 2 of the graphical abstract [4]) with census information in a framework of optimized hot spot analysis.Data source locationSouth of Mexico CityData accessibilityData are included in this paper…”