Use of Vegetation to Classify Urban Landscape Types: Application in a Mediterranean Coastal Area

Hugo Castro Noblejas, José María Orellana-Macías and Matías Francisco Mérida Rodríguez
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Hugo Castro Noblejas: Geography Department, University of Malaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain
José María Orellana-Macías: Department of Research in Geological Resources, Geological and Mining Institute of Spain, 50006 Zaragoza, Spain
Matías Francisco Mérida Rodríguez: Geography Department, University of Malaga, 29071 Malaga, Spain

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-21

Abstract: The objectives of this paper are (a) to incorporate vegetation cover into quantitative techniques for identifying and classifying urban landscape types, (b) to implement a methodology to analyse the urban landscape units of three zones in the Mediterranean coastal area and (c) to design a methodology that could be extrapolated to other urban spaces with a similar type and spatial scale. To achieve the objectives, the urban landscape units are characterized in three Mediterranean coastal municipalities in the south of Spain, in the province of Málaga: Benalmádena, Marbella and Manilva. The characterization is based on some of the most representative variables of the urban morphology, such as construction density, road density and building height, also incorporating the presence of vegetation cover, both arboreal and herbaceous and shrub. Data were obtained from the Spanish Cadastral (urban morphology variables) and through remote sensing techniques (vegetation), spatial analysis tools and multivariate analysis were implemented to obtain the characterization and spatial delimitation of the urban typologies. As a result, six clusters are recognized with predominant urban landscape typologies. The proposed procedure is a useful tool to segment the city following landscape criteria, as well as to assess the changes experienced in urban spaces.

Keywords: urban areas; spatial patterns; urban growth; vegetation cover; GIS; Mediterranean coast areas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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