Urbanization in European regions based on night lights

Abstract

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) night lights are used as a source to capture urbanization trends in European regions. The data are intercalibrated to form a comparable time series. The Sum of Lights (SoL) index is then calculated per region. To eliminate the problem of annual fluctuation, the overall and the decadal slope of the SoL trend are also calculated. The analysis of the results shows that there exist significantly diverse urbanization patterns within European regions that can be effectively captured by DMSP/OLS data. It is also shown that GDP and population are positively associated with urbanization in Europe, however less strongly at regional than national levels. Overall, the interpretation of SoL changes in the European regions is more complex compared to those in the developing parts of the globe, primarily due to differences in energy saving polices. © 2015 Elsevier B.V.