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A Multi-scale Method of Mapping Urban Influence
Citation:
WADE, T. G., J. D. WICKHAM, N. Zacarelli, AND K. Riitters. A Multi-scale Method of Mapping Urban Influence. ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING AND SOFTWARE. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 24(10):1252-1256, (2009).
Impact/Purpose:
The impacts of urbanization extend over large areas (e.g., Folke et al. 1997) even though the areal percentage of urban land in regional land-cover maps is typically quite small (e.g., Vogelmann et al. 2001, Homer et al. 2007). Many species are ‘urban avoiders’ (sensu McKinney 2002), extending environmental impact of the built environment by making otherwise suitable habitat unsuitable because it is near an urban area. Impervious surfaces lead to higher amounts of runoff, increasing sediment and nutrient loads to surface waters, and these effects can be measured well downstream from where the built environment ends (Paul and Meyer 2001). Industrial and vehicle emissions are carried downwind and deposited in areas remote from their source. The concepts of downstream and downwind indicate that spatial context, gradients (e.g., McDonnell et al. 1997) and scale are important aspects for understanding the influence of urban areas on their surroundings (Dale et al. 2000).
Description:
Urban development can impact environmental quality and ecosystem services well beyond urban extent. Many methods to map urban areas have been developed and used in the past, but most have simply tried to map existing extent of urban development, and all have been single-scale techniques. The method presented here uses a clustering approach to look beyond the extant urban area at multiple scales. The result is a single, synoptic multi-scale map of urban influence that should be useful in urban, regional and environmental planning efforts.