Change in Artificial Land Use over time across European Cities: A rescaled radial perspective

This paper presents the first evidence, using radial analysis of 292 European cities that artificial land use within a rescaled distance of ~ 20km (using London as a reference) to the city centre is decreasing on average across Europe. This is contrasted with further expansion and increase in artificial land use in the suburbs and periphery areas. This finding has important implications relating to the sustainability of our cities as the evidence is pointing to increasing urban sprawl and lower urban centre living. A rescaling component is utilised in the analysis, along with radial profiles to enable comparisons between cities of different populations.