High-Resolution Mapping of Urban Residential Building Stock Using Multisource Geographic Data

Abstract

The rapid pace of urbanization and the increasing concentration of populations in urban areas have generated a substantial demand for architectural structures, resulting in a significant increase in building stock and continuous material flows that interact with the environment. This study emphasizes the importance of high-spatial-resolution mapping of residential building stock for effective urban-construction resource management, planning, and waste management. Focusing on Xi’an as a case study, the research develops a comprehensive framework for mapping urban residential building stock by integrating diverse data dimensions, including temporal, spatial, network, and multi-attribute aspects. The findings indicate that between 1990 and 2020, approximately 4758 residential communities were established in central Xi’an. The analysis of seven key residential construction materials revealed that the building stock escalated from 1.53 million tons to 731.12 million tons, with a steady spatial expansion of material distribution. The study attributes this growth to factors such as population increase, economic advancement, and policy initiatives, which, in turn, have driven the demand for residential building materials and reinforced the interdependence between urban expansion and residential construction development. Remarkably, from 1990 to 2020, the population surged by 2.1-fold, the economy by 66-fold, and the stock of residential building materials by 477-fold, indicating that the growth rate of material stock consistently outpaced that of both population and economic growth. Over the past three decades, the rapid expansion of residential buildings has led to the encroachment of urban ecological spaces by concrete structures. The methodology proposed in this study for quantifying building material offers valuable insights for policymakers and urban and environmental planners to foster responsible resource consumption and supports component-level circularity in the built environment.