Dynamics of Impervious Surfaces and Vegetation in Core Urban Areas of Global Megacities

Although many studies have shown that the expansion of impervious surfaces such as artificial buildings and roads is accompanied by a decrease in urban vegetation, recent studies have also pointed out that urban greening measures can promote vegetation growth. The above studies mostly focus on admin...

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Main Authors: Lei Zhang, Jinzhou Yuan, Ming Zhang, Wenzhuo Liu, Qian Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
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Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11011662/
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author Lei Zhang
Jinzhou Yuan
Ming Zhang
Wenzhuo Liu
Qian Wang
author_facet Lei Zhang
Jinzhou Yuan
Ming Zhang
Wenzhuo Liu
Qian Wang
author_sort Lei Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Although many studies have shown that the expansion of impervious surfaces such as artificial buildings and roads is accompanied by a decrease in urban vegetation, recent studies have also pointed out that urban greening measures can promote vegetation growth. The above studies mostly focus on administrative regions such as a certain city, urban agglomeration, river basin, country, etc., ignoring the differences between suburbs and core urban areas with concentrated populations. This article proposes a fractional impervious surface index to estimate impervious surfaces and combines it with population information to define core urban area boundaries of megacities. Then, Landsat data are used to analyze dynamics of impervious surfaces and vegetation in core urban areas of 12 megacities around the world from 2013 to 2022. The results indicate a gradual increase in impervious surfaces within the core urban areas of 12 megacities. Most megacities have shown a significant decline in the growth rate of impervious surfaces since 2017, and growth rates of all megacities have tended to stabilize after 2019. Across all megacities, lower fractional vegetation cover (FVC) levels account for a higher proportion of area, with a gradual decline toward higher FVC levels. Most megacities have different FVC trends in core urban areas and entire city. The proportions of very high FVC areas in core urban areas of 12 megacities have not changed much, with fluctuations basically not exceeding 5% . This study helps to understand the spatiotemporal dynamic changes of vegetation in core urban areas and provide reference data for sustainable urban development.
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publishDate 2025-01-01
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spelling doaj-art-3a8f53afc26b4c539d3a8cada9f33ef82025-08-20T03:44:57ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing1939-14042151-15352025-01-0118138141382410.1109/JSTARS.2025.357294611011662Dynamics of Impervious Surfaces and Vegetation in Core Urban Areas of Global MegacitiesLei Zhang0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2171-8674Jinzhou Yuan1Ming Zhang2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5497-5071Wenzhuo Liu3Qian Wang4Hubei Key Laboratory of Quantitative Remote Sensing of Land and Atmosphere, School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, ChinaHubei Key Laboratory of Quantitative Remote Sensing of Land and Atmosphere, School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, ChinaSchool of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, ChinaHubei Key Laboratory of Quantitative Remote Sensing of Land and Atmosphere, School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, ChinaSchool of Geographic and Environmental Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, ChinaAlthough many studies have shown that the expansion of impervious surfaces such as artificial buildings and roads is accompanied by a decrease in urban vegetation, recent studies have also pointed out that urban greening measures can promote vegetation growth. The above studies mostly focus on administrative regions such as a certain city, urban agglomeration, river basin, country, etc., ignoring the differences between suburbs and core urban areas with concentrated populations. This article proposes a fractional impervious surface index to estimate impervious surfaces and combines it with population information to define core urban area boundaries of megacities. Then, Landsat data are used to analyze dynamics of impervious surfaces and vegetation in core urban areas of 12 megacities around the world from 2013 to 2022. The results indicate a gradual increase in impervious surfaces within the core urban areas of 12 megacities. Most megacities have shown a significant decline in the growth rate of impervious surfaces since 2017, and growth rates of all megacities have tended to stabilize after 2019. Across all megacities, lower fractional vegetation cover (FVC) levels account for a higher proportion of area, with a gradual decline toward higher FVC levels. Most megacities have different FVC trends in core urban areas and entire city. The proportions of very high FVC areas in core urban areas of 12 megacities have not changed much, with fluctuations basically not exceeding 5% . This study helps to understand the spatiotemporal dynamic changes of vegetation in core urban areas and provide reference data for sustainable urban development.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11011662/Core urban areasglobal megacitiesimpervious surfacevegetation coverage
spellingShingle Lei Zhang
Jinzhou Yuan
Ming Zhang
Wenzhuo Liu
Qian Wang
Dynamics of Impervious Surfaces and Vegetation in Core Urban Areas of Global Megacities
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
Core urban areas
global megacities
impervious surface
vegetation coverage
title Dynamics of Impervious Surfaces and Vegetation in Core Urban Areas of Global Megacities
title_full Dynamics of Impervious Surfaces and Vegetation in Core Urban Areas of Global Megacities
title_fullStr Dynamics of Impervious Surfaces and Vegetation in Core Urban Areas of Global Megacities
title_full_unstemmed Dynamics of Impervious Surfaces and Vegetation in Core Urban Areas of Global Megacities
title_short Dynamics of Impervious Surfaces and Vegetation in Core Urban Areas of Global Megacities
title_sort dynamics of impervious surfaces and vegetation in core urban areas of global megacities
topic Core urban areas
global megacities
impervious surface
vegetation coverage
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11011662/
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AT mingzhang dynamicsofimpervioussurfacesandvegetationincoreurbanareasofglobalmegacities
AT wenzhuoliu dynamicsofimpervioussurfacesandvegetationincoreurbanareasofglobalmegacities
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