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A new urban landscape in East–Southeast Asia, 2000–2010

A new urban landscape in East–Southeast Asia, 2000–2010
A new urban landscape in East–Southeast Asia, 2000–2010
East–Southeast Asia is currently one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the world, with countries such as China climbing from 20 to 50% urbanized in just a few decades. By 2050, these countries are projected to add 1 billion people, with 90% of that growth occurring in cities. This population shift parallels an equally astounding amount of built-up land expansion. However, spatially-and temporally-detailed information on regional-scale changes in urban land or population distribution do not exist; previous efforts have been either sample-based, focused on one country, or drawn conclusions from datasets with substantial temporal/spatial mismatch and variability in urban definitions. Using consistent methodology, satellite imagery and census data for >1000 agglomerations in the East–Southeast Asian region, we show that urban land increased >22% between 2000 and 2010 (from 155 000 to 189 000 km2), an amount equivalent to the area of Taiwan, while urban populations climbed >31% (from 738 to 969 million). Although urban land expanded at unprecedented rates, urban populations grew more rapidly, resulting in increasing densities for the majority of urban agglomerations, including those in both more developed (Japan, South Korea) and industrializing nations (China, Vietnam, Indonesia). This result contrasts previous sample-based studies, which conclude that cities are universally declining in density. The patterns and rates of change uncovered by these datasets provide a unique record of the massive urban transition currently underway in East–Southeast Asia that is impacting local-regional climate, pollution levels, water quality/availability, arable land, as well as the livelihoods and vulnerability of populations in the region
1748-9326
34002
Schneider, A.
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Mertes, C.M.
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Tatem, A.J.
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Tan, B.
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Sulla-Menashe, D.
c1bf5c76-05ff-4a6e-8f51-a191f30b30ec
Graves, S.J.
9826b62b-92c4-411d-a345-e305c17ed3e7
Patel, N.N.
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Horton, J.A.
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Gaughan, A.E.
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Rollo, J.T.
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Schelly, I.H.
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Stevens, F.R.
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Dastur, A.
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Schneider, A.
9624a52d-7010-4326-8105-a6a9645c5f9c
Mertes, C.M.
1a84203e-940a-4e65-b87b-996c1445e879
Tatem, A.J.
6c6de104-a5f9-46e0-bb93-a1a7c980513e
Tan, B.
31735996-f5f7-4591-b0c1-ec78f14aa98d
Sulla-Menashe, D.
c1bf5c76-05ff-4a6e-8f51-a191f30b30ec
Graves, S.J.
9826b62b-92c4-411d-a345-e305c17ed3e7
Patel, N.N.
2e27589f-e5c6-4911-a7b7-2c7293a14086
Horton, J.A.
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Gaughan, A.E.
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Rollo, J.T.
25451179-8317-4986-8025-79739d84fa08
Schelly, I.H.
7bed4dbf-945d-4eef-b579-242f45dce0d2
Stevens, F.R.
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Dastur, A.
fafa4bba-bc9e-431e-9c99-9c779eeae495

Schneider, A., Mertes, C.M., Tatem, A.J., Tan, B., Sulla-Menashe, D., Graves, S.J., Patel, N.N., Horton, J.A., Gaughan, A.E., Rollo, J.T., Schelly, I.H., Stevens, F.R. and Dastur, A. (2015) A new urban landscape in East–Southeast Asia, 2000–2010. Environmental Research Letters, 10 (3), 34002. (doi:10.1088/1748-9326/10/3/034002).

Record type: Article

Abstract

East–Southeast Asia is currently one of the fastest urbanizing regions in the world, with countries such as China climbing from 20 to 50% urbanized in just a few decades. By 2050, these countries are projected to add 1 billion people, with 90% of that growth occurring in cities. This population shift parallels an equally astounding amount of built-up land expansion. However, spatially-and temporally-detailed information on regional-scale changes in urban land or population distribution do not exist; previous efforts have been either sample-based, focused on one country, or drawn conclusions from datasets with substantial temporal/spatial mismatch and variability in urban definitions. Using consistent methodology, satellite imagery and census data for >1000 agglomerations in the East–Southeast Asian region, we show that urban land increased >22% between 2000 and 2010 (from 155 000 to 189 000 km2), an amount equivalent to the area of Taiwan, while urban populations climbed >31% (from 738 to 969 million). Although urban land expanded at unprecedented rates, urban populations grew more rapidly, resulting in increasing densities for the majority of urban agglomerations, including those in both more developed (Japan, South Korea) and industrializing nations (China, Vietnam, Indonesia). This result contrasts previous sample-based studies, which conclude that cities are universally declining in density. The patterns and rates of change uncovered by these datasets provide a unique record of the massive urban transition currently underway in East–Southeast Asia that is impacting local-regional climate, pollution levels, water quality/availability, arable land, as well as the livelihoods and vulnerability of populations in the region

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Accepted/In Press date: 27 January 2015
Published date: 3 March 2015
Organisations: Global Env Change & Earth Observation, WorldPop, Population, Health & Wellbeing (PHeW)

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 374978
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/374978
ISSN: 1748-9326
PURE UUID: 062bb011-dbcd-4c13-9226-27c435193b17
ORCID for A.J. Tatem: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7270-941X

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Date deposited: 09 Mar 2015 10:21
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:43

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Contributors

Author: A. Schneider
Author: C.M. Mertes
Author: A.J. Tatem ORCID iD
Author: B. Tan
Author: D. Sulla-Menashe
Author: S.J. Graves
Author: N.N. Patel
Author: J.A. Horton
Author: A.E. Gaughan
Author: J.T. Rollo
Author: I.H. Schelly
Author: F.R. Stevens
Author: A. Dastur

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