Session 1 - Montefiore

C Assessing urban sprawl at the
European level: Corine land cover
The assessment of urban sprawl has been
undertaken within the framework of the land and
ecosystem accounts method developed by the EEA
and ETC/TE (EEA, 2006). It is based on the Corine
land cover 2000 database which also contains a
special data layer of 1990–2000 land cover changes.
The land accounting methodology permits the
measurement of land use change related to relevant
socio-economic land use processes. It is especially
relevant the grouping of all possible one-to-one
changes between the 44 Corine land cover classes
(1892 possible combinations) into 9 major land use
process (see box below), called land cover flows,
which facilitate the interpretation of the results.
For this report the land cover changes include:
• Urban land management: Change of use e.g.
from residential to commercial.
• Urban sprawl: Residential land development
(class 1.1 of CLC — urban fabric) with loss of
non urban land.
• Sprawl of economic sites and infrastructures:
Development of land for economic and
infrastructure land uses (including sport and
leisure facilities) with loss of non urban land.
This can be further subdivided into industrial
and commercial sites, services and recreation,
transport networks and facilities, and waste
disposal sites (see Figure 7 as an example).
Nomenclature of land cover change (Level 1)
LCF1 Urban land management
LCF2 Urban sprawl
LCF3 Extension of economic sites and
infrastructures
LCF4 Agricultural rotation and intensification
LCF5 Conversion of land to agriculture
LCF6 Forests creation and management
LCF7 Water body creation and management
LCF8 Changes of land cover due to natural
and multiple causes
Annex: Data and methodological approach
These land cover changes have been analysed within
the UMZs, for reference year 2000. As the focus is
at the European scale, results can be aggregated in
1 x 1 km grids (e.g. Maps 1 to 4).
In order to assess the extent of urban sprawl outside
the UMZ, 3 buffers were defined:
• 0–5 km outside the boundary of the UMZ;
• 5–10 km outside the boundary of the UMZ;
• 10–20 km outside the boundary of the UMZ.
Within each buffer, urban sprawl was calculated and
the results provided as a percentage of the total area
(see Figure 8).
D Assessing urban sprawl at regional
and local levels: MOLAND
The MOLAND methodology for assessing urban
sprawl consists of three phases which are described in
the next paragraphs: change detection, understanding
changes and the production of scenarios.
Change detection (CHANGE): The objective of
change detection is to measure changes in the spatial
extent of urban areas and wider regions.
CHANGE produces a reference land use database
on the basis of satellite images (IRS) and ancillary
data (such as maps, aerial photos etc.), typically
for the years 1997 or 1998, and three historical land
use databases for selected European urban areas.
Historical databases are produced for three time
periods: mid-1950s, late 1960s, and mid-1980s
depending on the availability of source materials
(aerial photos, satellite images etc.).
Understanding (UNDERSTAND): Identifying and
testing a number of indicators to be used to measure
the 'sustainability of urban and peri-urban areas'. The
total number of indicators in the MOLAND indicator
databank is approximately 50.
For the purpose of this report the following indicators
have been calculated:
• Growth of built-up areas from the 1950s to the
late 1990s.
Built-up area includes the following land use
classes: residential areas, industrial and commercial
and service areas and transport areas. It does not
include green urban areas. The indicator has been
calculated by taking the extent of the built-up area in
the 1990s and the built-up area in the 1950s has been
Urban sprawl in Europe 51