Dr. Stuart Barr
Prof. Phil Rees
1st Novomber 1999 - 30th September 2003
School of Geography Studentship
Current population projections suggest that about 4.4 million new homes will be formed in England during the period 1991-2016, resulting in the need for a similar number of new residential developments. Such a dramatic increase in the requirement for residential development will lead to significant social, economic and environmental changes occurring in both urban and rural areas.
One up to date, consistent and spatially comprehensive potential source of information on urban land use exists in the form of satellite remotely sensed data. The overall aim of this research is to use the data acquired by new satellite sensors to monitor and evaluate how new residential developments are likely to change the land use structure of urban areas. The research will assess the utility of very high spatial resolution remotely sensed images to recognise brownfield sites feasible for land use re-development. The accurate and consistent recognition of such sites will allow an assessment to be made as to the potential of urban areas to sustain future predicted residential development requirements. In turn, this will provide an important information source for the evaluation of the long-term sustainable development of urban areas.