Assessment of Urban Environmental Quality by Socioeconomic and Environmental Variables Using Open‐Source Datasets

Abstract

In this era of rapid development, environmental quality is an essential aspect of sustainable development. A healthy urban environment supports, regulates, and provides livable conditions. In urban areas, environmental quality is considerably affected by socioeconomic factors such as population expansion and economic development. For decision‐making, it is also significant for stakeholders and policymakers to understand the impact of urban expansion on environmental quality. While previous studies have examined urban environmental quality, they often focused on single cities or limited environmental parameters. This research addresses these limitations by conducting a comparative analysis of two major Asian cities with similar demographic features, utilizing a comprehensive set of socioeconomic and environmental variables. Our innovative approach combines open‐source datasets with advanced remote sensing techniques to provide a more holistic assessment of urban environmental quality over two decades. We analyzed urban environmental quality for last two decades with the selected urban environmental quality parameters: surface greenness, surface moisture, and land surface temperature. Lahore (Pakistan) and Wuhan (China) cities were selected for having approximately same demographic features. Correlation matrix has been used to assess the relationship between these environmental variables and social‐economic variables: urban expansion and carbon emission. Correlation coefficient indicated that urban expansion correlates negatively with surface greenness and surface moisture for both Lahore (−0.67 and −0.71) and Wuhan District (−0.5 and −0.75), respectively, while it had a positive relation with land surface temperature: 0.65 and 0.57 for Lahore and Wuhan District, respectively. These effects are more prominent within 10 km distance from the city center, where a substantial urban expansion is observed during the time window.