Satellite monitoring of shrinking cities on the globe and containment solutions

Weixin Zhai; Zhidian Jiang; Xiangfeng Meng; Xiaoling Zhang; Mengxue Zhao; Ying Long

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104411

Satellite monitoring of shrinking cities on the globe and containment solutions

iScience. 2022 May 16;25(6):104411. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104411. eCollection 2022 Jun 17.

Authors

Weixin Zhai¹, Zhidian Jiang^{2

3}, Xiangfeng Meng³, Xiaoling Zhang^{4

5}, Mengxue Zhao⁶, Ying Long³

Affiliations

¹ College of Information and Electrical Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China.
² College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
³ School of Architecture and Hang Lung Center for Real Estate, Key Laboratory of Ecological Planning & Green Building, Ministry of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
⁴ The State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution (SKLMP) and Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, PR China.
⁵ Shenzhen Research Institute, City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518057, China.
⁶ Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, PR China.

Abstract

Shrinking cities are often neglected in the context of global urbanization, the tip of the iceberg that was driven by underlying complex sets of causes. Therefore, it is urgent and crucial to investigate the invisible aspects of global urbanization propelling specific challenges to attain Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) related to sustainable cities and communities. Here, we identify shrinking cities in 1992-2000, 2000-2012, and 2013-2018 and predict them in 2018-2050, using nighttime light images and redefined natural city boundaries. The proportion of shrinking cities increased from 9% to 16 and 25%. Looking ahead, there will be 7,166 predicted shrinking cities in 2050, accounting for 37% of all cities. In this context, synergistic efforts like regreening vacant lands and constructing compact cities would help achieve SDG 11 in consideration of the new urban shrinking landscape with multisource data like CO₂ emissions and points of interests (POIs).

Keywords: Earth sciences; Human Geography; Remote sensing; Urban planning.