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Evolution of ecological patterns of

land use changes in European
metropolitan areas

Xu Zhang, Josep Roca Cladera, Blanca Arellano Ramos

Xu Zhang, Josep Roca Cladera, Blanca Arellano Ramos, "Evolution of

ecological patterns of land use changes in European metropolitan areas,"
Proc. SPIE 12269, Remote Sensing Technologies and Applications in Urban
Environments VII, 1226906 (26 October 2022); doi: 10.1117/12.2636026

Event: SPIE Remote Sensing, 2022, Berlin, Germany

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 Evolution of ecological patterns of land use changes in European
metropolitan areas
Xu Zhang1a, Josep Roca Claderaa, Blanca Arellano Ramosa
a
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Center of Land Policy and Valuation, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyze the evolution of land-use patterns and the Eco-Environmental Quality Index (EQI) in major
European metropolitan areas. To this end, nighttime remote sensing images will be used to delineate ten major European
metropolitan areas with more than 1 million inhabitants and CLC land cover data will be used to reclassify European
land occupation types from 2000 to 2018. Based on MODIS satellite remote sensing imagery, the evolution of EQI was
studied for the EQI evaluation systems applicable to different periods and different regions. The results show that in
Europe, cultivated cover and discontinuous built-up cover occupy the largest part of the land, but the former is shrinking
and the latter is expanding. Other land areas are much smaller than the previous two. Among them, grassland has always
shown a growing trend, and the fastest growing area is industrial land, while the slow-expanding land includes
transportation land, leisure land and water bodies. The overall result of the EQI was estimated to be around 0.59. The
average result in 2000 was the highest, with a decrease in 2006, but a small increase since then. The ecological
environment of each metropolitan area has experienced both improvement and deterioration. Overall conditions
improved in Barcelona, the English central agglomeration, Rome and the diffuse landscape of Northern Italy, London
and Naples. But The Belgian/Dutch agglomeration, the lands of Paris and the Rhine-Ruhr, the vast majority of the
ecological quality is deteriorating. Madrid's EQI worsened the most.
Keywords: Land use patterns, eco-environmental quality index, remote sensing, sustainable development

1. INTRODUCTION
With the development of urbanization and rapid social and economic construction all over the modern world, the
ecological environment has been seriously damaged by human activities, and the resulting ecological problems are also
increasing, such as soil erosion, land salinity and desertification, and the sharp decrease in the diversity of animals and
plants [1-2]. At the same time, natural disasters and extreme climates such as floods, droughts, global warming, and high
temperature and heat waves occur frequently with the deterioration of the ecological environment [3-6]. A good
ecological environment is the basis for sustainable social development and human survival, and the degradation of the
ecological environment has seriously affected the development of human society and people's health. We must pay
attention to solving ecological and environmental problems while maintaining urban construction and economic
development, as well as the steady improvement of science and technology. Only in this way can a harmonious
coexistence between man and nature be formed, the frequent occurrence of natural disasters and extreme weather can be
reduced, and the people's health and the sustainable use of natural resources can be guaranteed [7].
The scientific evaluation of the ecological environment and the rational optimization and regulation of its pattern are not
only a hot issue in the field of climate and environment research, but also an urgent need for ecological economic
development and ecological civilization construction [8]. At present, satellite remote sensing earth observation system
has been widely used in the field of ecological environment because of its macroscopic, rapid and real-time advantages.
Using various remote sensing indices to monitor and evaluate natural forests, grasslands, urban man-made ground, water
bodies, and even ecosystems in the entire region has become an important part of the field of ecological environmental
protection [9]. With the development of "3S" technology (Remote sensing, Geography information systems, and
Globalpositioning systems), many scholars began to use RS and GIS technology to obtain ground information, combined
with mathematical models and statistical analysis methods, from single factor to multi-factor, different Comprehensive
evaluation of the ecological environment in terms of regional scope and scale space [10-11]. In 2009, Ivits et al. [12]
used SPOT image data to evaluate the ecological environment of forest and farmland bird habitats with vegetation index

1
Corresponding author: zhlang960@gmail.com; phone +34 657126381

Remote Sensing Technologies and Applications in Urban Environments VII, edited by Thilo Erbertseder,
Nektarios Chrysoulakis, Ying Zhang, Proc. of SPIE Vol. 12269, 1226906
© 2022 SPIE · 0277-786X · doi: 10.1117/12.2636026

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 NDVI as an ecological indicator. Marllu J et al. [13] used a variety of ecological factors such as vegetation sensitivity
index and ecological isolation index to construct an evaluation system to evaluate the quality of urban ecological
environment. The research shows that the ecological quality status obtained by this method has reference significance for
the relevant decision-making of urban land use planning. In 2013, Xu Hanqiu [14] proposed a new remote sensing
ecological index (RSEI) based on remote sensing information technology. The index is coupled with four index factors
of vegetation index, humidity component, surface temperature and soil index, and then uses principal component
transformation to integrate more complete information in the region. In this study, the RSEI index and the traditional
Chinese EI index were used to analyze the ecological environment in the areas with severe soil erosion in Fujian
Province. It provides forecasting and dynamic change analysis, which makes up for the insufficiency of the EI index. In
2021, Wang Zi [7] selected the four-phase Landsat series of remote sensing images as the data source, added research
indicators that conform to the characteristics of the saline-alkali land of the research object, comprehensively evaluated
the ecological environment quality of the Chahannur Basin from 1992 to 2020, and analyzed the ecological environment
quality. drivers of change. In 2022, Yifeng Hou et al. [15] explored the contribution of the conversion between different
land types to the ecological environment by analyzing the evolution of land use/cover change in the Tarim River Basin
over the past 30 years. The analysis shows that the overall ecological environment of the basin shows a trend of
improvement.
Based on this, the aim of this paper is to assess the urban eco-environmental quality index in major European
metropolitan areas and to analyze the evolution of land use patterns. To do this, we will use nighttime remote sensing
imagery to delineate major metropolitan areas with more than 1 million inhabitants. In the authors' previous work, it was
used to divide urban (compact and sprawling), suburban and rural landscapes around the world [16]. There are 404
metropolitan areas in the world with a population of more than 1 million, including 60 in Europe. In this sense, the main
metropolitan areas in Europe will be the subject of this study: the Belgian/Dutch urban agglomeration, northern Italy,
London, Paris, the Rhine-Ruhr, the UK central urban agglomeration and Madrid, Barcelona, Rome and the metropolitan
area of Naples. We will use remote sensing image data to study the evolution of their land cover and build a reasonable
ecological environment quality evaluation index system to determine the "Environmental Quality Index" and clarify the
process of environmental quality improvement or deterioration in the ten major metropolitan areas in Europe. For the
sustainable urban development and construction of major European urban agglomerations, ecological environment
governance and protection are of great significance.

2. METHODOLOGY
This study can be divided into two main parts: First, we need to classify European land use so that we can analyze the
changes and regularities of land cover patterns in these metropolitan areas between 2000 and 2018. Then, we will use
remote sensing image data to construct a more reasonable evaluation system of ecological environment quality index
according to different urban land cover types, so as to obtain the final index of ecological quality of each metropolitan
area and its evolution direction.

2.1 Demarcation of ten metropolitan areas

Satellite nighttime imagery of the Earth is a more effective method for identifying urbanized areas. Currently, nighttime
lights have been used in a range of scientific contributions, including research on establishing the Human Development
Index and identifying megacities and affected landscapes. However, the use of nighttime light images to study the area
and internal structure of urban systems has the limitation of low spatial resolution of satellite sensors. However, in a
previous article, the authors proposed a new method based on the analysis of satellite images of nighttime lights and
established the Light Influenced Land Index (LILpc) per capita as an indicator of urbanization level. This method allows
the identification of different types of urbanized areas. The study analyzed 186,134 lighting profiles (urbanized areas)
worldwide and found that 404 of them could be considered true "metropolitan areas" [16]. Therefore, this paper will use
satellite nighttime imagery to delimit ten European metropolitan areas, and the results are presented in Figure 1.

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 Figure 1. Ten European metropolitan areas are demarcated by lights and their areas.

2.2 Analysis of land occupation patterns

After determining the demarcation range of the research objects, we must study their land use patterns, which is also an
indispensable step in evaluating the quality of the ecological environment. In order to do it, first and foremost is to
reclassify the land cover in Europe. The integrated utilization methods are similar and have less impact on the results of
this study, and the land types that play a greater role in improving or deteriorating the ecological environment are
specifically extracted.
CORINE Land Cover (CLC) includes a list of 44 categories of land cover, using a minimum cartographic unit (MMU) of
25 hectares (ha) for shape phenomena and a minimum width of 100 m for linear phenomena. It is widely used in
agriculture, transportation, urban space planning and other fields. The land cover data in this article are all from CLC
2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018. Urban man-made ground contains many types of land, which have great and different
impacts on ecological quality. Therefore, man-made ground has been re-divided into 6 categories, of which built-up
areas are divided into continuous and discontinuous built-up areas. And, according to the CLC taxonomic description,
some areas have been re-integrated to expand the content of grassland and wasteland. In addition, other changes are
included, which are divided into 11 categories. The classification and its explanation are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Classification of European land cover types and their interpretation.

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 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 12269 1226906-4
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 We present the classified land use images using the Barcelona metropolitan area in 2018 as an example (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Classified images of land use, using the Barcelona metropolitan area as an example in 2018.

2.3 Construction of ecological environment quality assessment index

At present, scholars have not formed a unified normative standard for evaluating the quality of ecological environment.
In 2019, Chunli Wang et al. summarized the calculation formula of EQI based on previous research [17]. They divided
the land into 6 categories according to the land occupation, and gave each category of land corresponding weights, and
used the area to evaluate the final quality index. In 2022, Yifeng Hou et al. optimized the weight parameters to evaluate
the Tarim River Basin [15]. This illustrates a very important issue: the rationality of land use weights is clearly
inadequate. The land weight index is only a numerical value, which can only describe the ecological status of a region in
a certain period in general, and cannot analyze the spatial changes of the ecological environment in different periods. At
the same time, different scholars consider it from different perspectives, and this weight index is also different. Therefore,
we should seek to construct a more scientific and reasonable index system to evaluate the ecological environment quality
of the metropolis, and this system should be suitable for the changes of land use types in different periods and different
regions.

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 The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) can be used to detect plant biomass, vegetation coverage, growth
status, etc. It is one of the best indicators to reflect the vulnerability of regional ecological environment, and it is also the
most widely used index in vegetation remote sensing monitoring research [18-19]. In a previous study by the authors, tall
tree canopies in summer could make NDVI estimates higher than reality, while long-wave radiation from the ground in
winter was not significantly affected by canopy [20]. Therefore, this study hopes to determine the ecological quality
weight of different land use by NDVI in summer and winter.
Additionally, we also need to consider the impact of the Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) in eco-efficiency.
Negative NDBI values represent water bodies, high values represent urban built-up areas, and vegetation NDBI values
are relatively low. So we can think that the ecological quality of the region is inversely proportional to the NDBI index.
If we subtract NDBI from NDVI, the result can more realistically reflect the ecological effect of this area.

(1)

Where: ρMIR and ρNIR are the reflectances in the red and near-infrared bands, respectively.

Based on the above analysis, we decided to use NDVI and NDBI to determine the proportion of land use environmental
quality index. MODIS data (MOD13Q1 (6)) can correlate remote sensing image data with a resolution of 250m. The
2000 data starts on February 18, 2000 and ends on December 18. 2012, 2016 and 2018 started on January 1 and ended on
December 19, with a time interval of 16 days for each set of images. Among them, the data of NDVI can be obtained
directly, but NDBI needs to be calculated by band data:
In order to distinguish winter and summer, we delineate January, February, and March as winter, and July, August, and
September as summer. We extract the NDVI images in these months. In order to keep it consistent, the NDBI data also
needs to do the same. The specific dates of each group of images are shown in Table 2.

Table 2. The date of the selected MODIS image data.

After obtaining all the image data, we calculated the difference between the average NDVI and the average NDBI of the
metropolitan area each year using ArcGIS. The 11 types of reclassified land in each metropolitan area were then
segmented to extract the difference between NDVI and NDBI for each type of land. We repeat the above steps for these
four years. Finally, we homogenized the obtained values, and set the minimum value to 0.05 and the maximum value to
0.95. The results presented in Table 3 are the assignment of the ecological environment quality proportion of each type
of land in each region.
Ultimately, we can use formula (2) to assess the annual eco-environmental quality index for each metropolitan area.

(2)

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 Where: EQIt is the eco-environmental quality index in year t; i is the land use type; LUi is the area of that type of land
use; Ai is the weight of the ecological quality index of this type of land use; and TA is the total area of the area (the sum
of the shape area of all land use in the ArcGIS attribute table in this area).

Table 3. The weight distribution of ecological environment quality of various types of land in major metropolitan areas.

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 3. RESULTS

3.1 Patterns of land cover evolution in ten metropolitan areas.

Figure 3 shows us the evolution of land occupation by type in the ten metropolitan areas in this study from 2000 to 2018.
It is evident that farmland constitutes a considerable proportion of the European metropolitan area, with a total area of
33,288.5 km2 in 2000, 53% of which is covered by crops. But it is also the land with the most continuous decline in area,
accounting for 49.5% of the total area in 2018. Still, it is the most extensive of the 11 types of land.

Figure 3. Changes in land use area in ten European metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2018 (1-Continuous built-up area, 2-
Discontinuous built-up area, 3-Industrial land, 4-Transportation land, 5-Mine, dump and construction sites , 6-Leisure land,
7-Cropland, 8-Woodland, 9-Grassland, 10-Barren land, 11-Water bodies.)

It is not difficult to see that a large part of the built-up area in the study area is discontinuous, it is about half the size of
the croplands. But the difference is that the area of discontinuous construction land has experienced 4 growths, from
15986km2 to 16811km2. It and the croplands are the most prominent land use in the European metropolitan area in terms
of area, and in fact, they also have a larger EQI weight, while in regulating the climate, they play the opposite role.
The other land areas are much smaller than the previous two, the largest being no more than 5000 km2. Among them,
grassland accounts for the largest proportion, and it has been showing an increasing trend, but the area with the fastest
increase is industrial land, which has increased by about 1.5% in 18 years. At the same time, the slow-expanding land
also includes transportation land, recreational land and water bodies. Both Mine, dump and construction sites and
woodland areas decreased, but Mine, dump and construction sites saw a significant increase in 2006. Furthermore, the
continuum of urban land and wasteland with the smallest EQI coefficients has seen little change over the years, even
though it experienced a small shrinkage in 2006.

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 Figure 4. Changes in land use by type in each metropolitan area from 2000 to 2018 (1-Continuous built-up area, 2-
Discontinuous built-up area, 3-Industrial land, 4-Transportation land, 5-Mine, dump and construction sites , 6-Leisure land,
7-Cropland, 8-Woodland, 9-Grassland, 10-Barren land, 11-Water bodies.)

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 From the analysis of the histogram of land use evolution in each metropolitan area (Figure 4), it can be seen that
croplands still occupy the most important position among all types of land use, especially in Madrid, The Belgian/Dutch
agglomeration, The English central agglomeration, and the three metropolitan areas of Italy, the area of this type of land
is much larger than other land uses. Croplands in Barcelona were also larger than the rest of the land in 2000, but fell
sharply in 2006, second to grass. Among other metro areas, fields ranked second. But for all regions, its size decreased
without exception during the study period.
With the exception of Barcelona, there are some metropolitan areas that are comparable in size to croplands with
discontinuous construction land. But in terms of trends, Naples is another exception, only its discontinuous urban area
has decreased, and even though it had a decent increase in 2006, it has since fallen below its initial value.
The proportion of continuous construction land in the Barcelona area is very large, in 2006 it had a very large decrease,
and since then it has grown slowly, but it has been decreasing in Madrid and London. The proportion of forest land with
high EQI assignments is also notable in the two metropolises located in Spain, both of which have experienced varying
degrees of shrinkage.
Industrial land is also ubiquitous in European metropolitan areas, it also occupies a certain proportion, and in all regions,
its area has been showing an increasing trend. In addition, transport and leisure land also showed a co-growth feature,
with the exception of The Rhine-Ruhr and Naples, the former's transport land decreased in 2012, and the latter's leisure
land area almost unchanged.

3.2 Eco-environmental quality assessment in ten metropolitan areas

3.2.1 Eco-environmental quality assessment index
Figure 5 presents the results of the EQI for the ten European metropolitan areas assessed in this study, and the overall
index for the study area is calculated to be around 0.59. The average result in 2000 was the highest, exceeding 0.61, with
a decrease in 2006, but a small increase since then.

Figure 5. Eco-environmental quality index of ten metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2018.

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 From the average results, The English central agglomeration has the most outstanding ecological environment quality,
with an EQI of 0.733, followed closely by The Belgian/Dutch agglomeration, about 0.730. In addition, Rome and Naples
in Italy, as well as London, have an EQI of over 6, and The Rhine-Ruhr is almost 6. The diffuse landscape of Northern
Italy and Paris both have indices above 5.5, although they are next in line. Spain's two metro areas have the most
worrying EQI results, notably Madrid, which has yet to reach 3.3, and Barcelona's 4.8, the only one below 5.
There was no specific trend in the EQI of each metropolitan area in these four years, and their ecological environment
experienced both improvement and deterioration. In Spain, the Barcelona region performed better, its index was
increasing, but in 2012 it had a significant decrease. Madrid's environmental quality, on the other hand, showed a
deterioration, even though it improved slightly in the last year, especially in 2006, which decreased by 0.23 in the
previous year.
The environmental quality of the two metropolitan areas in the UK is better, and there is a trend of improvement, the
peak was in 2012. But in London, the 2006 index was lower than the previous year.
Except for Naples, the ecological environment evolution trend of the other metropolises in Italy is the same. They all had
the index lower than the initial value in 2012, but the other years have increased year by year, and the valuation in 2018
is significantly higher than 2000's. Among them, Rome is the best performer, and its annual index is higher than other
regions. But the EQI of Naples has been decreasing, especially in 2012 fell to the lowest point.
Another very good environmental quality is The Belgian/Dutch agglomeration, which in 2000 was much higher than the
rest of the region, but dropped 0.13 in the second year, while it improved in 2012, it fell again in 2018. The overall trend
is deteriorating.
The development trends of Paris and The Rhine-Ruhr are roughly similar, showing a worsening trend as a whole, and
both had a significant recovery in 2012.
3.2.2 Eco-environmental quality index evolution
We compared the 2018 and 2000 Eco-Environmental Quality Index maps for each metropolitan area, with green areas
for improvement, red for deterioration, and areas with no change marked in white, looking for the spatial characteristics
of their changes (Figure 6). The results found that Barcelona, The English central agglomeration, Rome and The diffuse
landscape of Northern Italy showed very positive improvements in environmental quality and were the best among all
study areas. Most of them are covered in green, with less red markings. There is a deterioration in the central and
southern coastal areas of Barcelona, and the quality of the east and west ends of The English central agglomeration needs
to be further improved. The two regions of Italy, the red map spots, are located in the western region.
The red and green areas in London and Naples are more evenly distributed, with a large part of the white area in between,
and the overall situation can be considered optimistic. But The Belgian/Dutch agglomeration, the lands of Paris and The
Rhine-Ruhr, the vast majority of the ecological quality is deteriorating. Fragmented green plots in Paris and The Rhine-
Ruhr are concentrated in the middle, while The Belgian/Dutch agglomeration has only seen green on the northern and
southern fringes.
The worst situation is the Madrid metropolitan area, the territory is almost covered in red, only in the north and center,
can occasionally see a few sporadic green areas. Madrid is the region most in need of environmental governance.

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 Figure 6. Maps of changes in the Eco-Environmental Quality Index in ten metropolitan areas from 2000 to 2018.

4. CONCLUSION
This paper uses CLC land cover data and night light demarcation to analyze the changing process of land occupation
patterns in ten major metropolitan areas in Europe from 2000 to 2018, and based on MODIS satellite remote sensing
images, establishes a model suitable for different regions in different periods. The Eco-Environmental Quality Index
(EQI) evaluation system, the evolution of their EQI was studied.
In major European metropolitan areas, arable land remains the predominant form of land occupation, but its area has
been declining for nearly two decades. The second is discontinuous construction land, which, in contrast to the former,
has been expanding. Other land areas are much smaller than the previous two. Among them, grassland has always shown
a growing trend, and the fastest growing area is industrial land, while the slow-expanding land includes transportation
land, leisure land and water bodies.
The croplands of each metropolitan area still occupy the most important position, and its area is reduced without
exception. With the exception of Barcelona, there are metropolitan areas that are comparable to the field area with
discontinuous built-up land, and with the exception of Naples, the area is growing. The proportion of forest land with
high EQI assignments is also notable in the two metropolises located in Spain, both of which have experienced varying
degrees of shrinkage. Industrial land also occupies a certain proportion in European metropolitan areas, and its area has

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 been showing an increasing trend. In addition, transportation land and leisure land also showed the characteristics of co-
growth.
The overall EQI results for the ten European metropolitan areas assessed in this study are around 0.59. The average
result in 2000 was the highest, with a decrease in 2006, but a small increase since then. The English central
agglomeration and The Belgian/Dutch agglomeration have the most outstanding ecological quality. In addition, Rome
and Naples in Italy, London, The diffuse landscape of Northern Italy and Paris are also more optimistic. Spain's two
metro areas had the most worrying EQI results, especially Madrid, which were the only ones below 5.
The ecological environment of each metropolitan area has experienced both improvement and deterioration. In Spain, the
Barcelona region fared better, with its index increasing, while Madrid's environmental quality deteriorated. The
environmental quality of the two metropolitan areas in the UK is better and both tend to improve. Except for Naples, the
ecological environment evolution trend of other metropolises in Italy is improving year by year. Another excellent
environmental quality is The Belgian/Dutch agglomeration, but the overall trend is deteriorating. The development
trends of Paris and The Rhine-Ruhr are roughly similar, showing a worsening trend as a whole, and both had a
significant recovery in 2012.
If analyzing the ecological quality change map, Barcelona, The English central agglomeration, Rome and the vast
majority of The diffuse landscape of Northern Italy are covered in green with fewer red markers. The red and green areas
in London and Naples are relatively evenly distributed, with a large part of the white area in between, and the overall
situation can be considered optimistic. But The Belgian/Dutch agglomeration, the lands of Paris and The Rhine-Ruhr, the
vast majority of the ecological quality is deteriorating. The worst situation is the Madrid metropolitan area, the territory
is almost covered in red, only in the north and center, can occasionally see a few sporadic green areas. Madrid is the
region most in need of environmental governance.

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