On the heterogeneity of urban expansion profiles in Europe

The difference of a city's artificial land use (ALU) radial profile to the
average ALU profile is examined for 585 European cities. Using Urban Atlas 2012
data, a radial (or monocentric) approach is used to calculate a city's land use
profile in relation to distance to the city centre. A scaling law is used which
controls for city size and population. As a consequence, cities of varying
degrees of size can be contrasted in a comparable way. Utilising the mean ALU
profile for the entire sample of 585 cities, the difference to the mean profile
is calculated for each city. Using these differences allows us to examine
heterogeneity of the ALU across European cities but also examine these
differences within cities. We utilise city groupings by city size and country
to attempt to understand these differences. Combining Urban Atlas and Corine
Land Cover data, the impact of water on the ALU profiles is examined. A city
classification is also introduced which considers the difference to the average
curve. Ordering methods are used to visualise cities within these
classifications. Results highlight the level of heterogeneity between cities.
Removing water, we can see that the cities with the highest levels of water
have a higher level of ALU on average. Spain and France are found to have
contrasting levels of ALU, Spanish cities having below average ALU and France
above average. Using seriation techniques enables us to group and order cities
into a typology which can be used to benchmark cities.