Geovisualization of artificial land use in European cities in 2018, with urban scaling laws

Abstract

In a European context of continuous urban expansion, even where population is declining, it is important to visualize and understand urban forms for informed urban planning, in the face of environmental and sustainability challenges. This study focuses on intra- and inter-urban scales through a center-periphery analysis using scaling laws. We develop and describe a web application to visualize the spatial distribution of artificial land use as a function of the distance to the city center and of city size. Using urban scaling laws, we eliminate the size effect to allow meaningful comparisons between cities. Indeed, after rescaling distances from the town hall, European cities show very similar patterns of land use in 2018. Our interactive tool allows users to visualize the land use profiles of 785 European cities and to compare them, irrespective of their size. The application also provides a center-periphery outlook on urban fabric, industry and roads, and is intended as a practical input for European planners. This visualization of urban land use reveals for instance specific national differences. French cities are generally more artificialized than the European average, while Spanish cities are less so.