Rapid development and increasing of Greater Cairo (Egypt) and their environmental implications (Early Warning)Ahmed Abdelhalim Hassan Since 1980th, rapid population growth and urbanization have become issues in big cities in developing countries like Greater Cairo. As a consequence of explosive growth, the living conditions of Cairo Metropolis deteriorate. Development trends of the last twenty years have increased general wealth and modernization, at a time of a high rate of population growth, thus creating an increased demand for land combined with environmental degradation. Planning a sustainable development of urban areas requires understanding of growth dynamics of urban systems. This talk will be concerned with monitoring and analysis of dynamic environment to capture and refine the urban patterns in Greater Cairo Metropolis on the basis of pixel-based and object-based classifications. Satellite images (TM, ETM+, & Spot) of different dates and resolutions, and ground truth data collected from available maps, field observation, and personal experience were used to execute the image segmentation analysis to reveal urban patterns and expansions. By using Erdas Imagine software, land use / land cover image classifications were constructed, which showed regimes and trends in urban growth change. The presented maps based on object segmentation have more accurate results than the produced maps based on pixel classification module. Two main types of urban patterns could be detected (passing from center to periphery). The first one is informal and the second one is formal building. The informal type mainly comprises slums and urban encroachment on arable land. The formal one mostly consists of new cities and legal houses. Moreover, a rate of urbanization growth during the last three decades would be described as geometrical progression. |
