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Mapping 21st century global coastal land reclamation

Mapping 21st century global coastal land reclamation
Mapping 21st century global coastal land reclamation
Increasing population size and economic dependence on the coastal zone, coupled with the growing need for residential, agricultural, industrial, commercial and green space infrastructure, are key drivers of land reclamation. Until now, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the global distribution of land use on reclaimed space at the coast. Here, we analyze Landsat satellite imagery from 2000 to 2020 to quantify the spatial extent, scale, and land use of urban coastal reclamation for 135 cities with populations in excess of 1 million. Findings indicate that 78% (106/135) of these major coastal cities have resorted to reclamation as a source of new ground, contributing a total 253,000 ha of additional land to the Earth's surface in the 21st century, equivalent to an area the size of Luxembourg. Reclamation is especially prominent in East Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, followed by Western Europe and West Africa. The most common land uses on reclaimed spaces are port extension (>70 cities), followed by residential/commercial (30 cities) and industrial (19 cities). While increased global trade and the rapid urbanization have driven these uses, we argue that a city's prestigious place-making effort to gain global reputation is emerging as another major driver underlying recent reclamation projects to create tourist and green spaces Meanwhile, the study suggests that 70% of recent reclamation has occurred in areas identified as potentially exposed to extreme sea level rise (SLR) by 2100 and this presents a significant challenge to sustainable development at the coast.
2328-4277
Sengupta, Dhritiraj
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Choi, Young Rae
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Tian, Bo
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Brown, Sally
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Meadows, Michael
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Hackney, Christopher
c940dde4-8613-42d9-b371-ae88e776cf5b
Banerjee, Abhishek
1a41bd46-7f51-4715-a335-b240189e0e27
Li, Yingjie
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Chen, Ruishan
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Zhou, Yunxuan
e964091a-7ddd-4db9-acb9-b3db322a89e8
Sengupta, Dhritiraj
342ff163-b9b1-4691-a5f9-8dcae7c46032
Choi, Young Rae
88ef9a21-3221-4eec-95b7-763517c84567
Tian, Bo
64a6b4de-3dd4-4323-b507-f414cfd02767
Brown, Sally
dd3c5852-78cc-435a-9846-4f3f540f2840
Meadows, Michael
30edfcda-fa34-4080-a5c0-76b1e9d10e70
Hackney, Christopher
c940dde4-8613-42d9-b371-ae88e776cf5b
Banerjee, Abhishek
1a41bd46-7f51-4715-a335-b240189e0e27
Li, Yingjie
5a737243-3e45-49ed-a023-3035738ed4b4
Chen, Ruishan
f3b885bd-ceb3-4420-97ea-c7a2711e2ed4
Zhou, Yunxuan
e964091a-7ddd-4db9-acb9-b3db322a89e8

Sengupta, Dhritiraj, Choi, Young Rae, Tian, Bo, Brown, Sally, Meadows, Michael, Hackney, Christopher, Banerjee, Abhishek, Li, Yingjie, Chen, Ruishan and Zhou, Yunxuan (2023) Mapping 21st century global coastal land reclamation. Earth's Future, 11 (2), [e2022EF002927].

Record type: Article

Abstract

Increasing population size and economic dependence on the coastal zone, coupled with the growing need for residential, agricultural, industrial, commercial and green space infrastructure, are key drivers of land reclamation. Until now, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the global distribution of land use on reclaimed space at the coast. Here, we analyze Landsat satellite imagery from 2000 to 2020 to quantify the spatial extent, scale, and land use of urban coastal reclamation for 135 cities with populations in excess of 1 million. Findings indicate that 78% (106/135) of these major coastal cities have resorted to reclamation as a source of new ground, contributing a total 253,000 ha of additional land to the Earth's surface in the 21st century, equivalent to an area the size of Luxembourg. Reclamation is especially prominent in East Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, followed by Western Europe and West Africa. The most common land uses on reclaimed spaces are port extension (>70 cities), followed by residential/commercial (30 cities) and industrial (19 cities). While increased global trade and the rapid urbanization have driven these uses, we argue that a city's prestigious place-making effort to gain global reputation is emerging as another major driver underlying recent reclamation projects to create tourist and green spaces Meanwhile, the study suggests that 70% of recent reclamation has occurred in areas identified as potentially exposed to extreme sea level rise (SLR) by 2100 and this presents a significant challenge to sustainable development at the coast.

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Earth s Future - 2023 - Sengupta - Mapping 21st Century Global Coastal Land Reclamation - Version of Record
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Accepted/In Press date: 4 January 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 9 February 2023

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 475635
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/475635
ISSN: 2328-4277
PURE UUID: 20e233bf-0854-4f55-b0e4-282ee20cb27c
ORCID for Sally Brown: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1185-1962

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Date deposited: 23 Mar 2023 17:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:15

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Contributors

Author: Dhritiraj Sengupta
Author: Young Rae Choi
Author: Bo Tian
Author: Sally Brown ORCID iD
Author: Michael Meadows
Author: Christopher Hackney
Author: Abhishek Banerjee
Author: Yingjie Li
Author: Ruishan Chen
Author: Yunxuan Zhou

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