Estimating the Biotope Area Factor (BAF) by Means of Existing Digital Maps and GIS Technology

Lotto, Roberto De; Casella, Vittorio; Franzini, Marica; Gazzola, Veronica; Popolo, Cecilia Morelli Di; Sturla, Susanna; Venco, Elisabetta Maria

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-21470-2_45

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The main criteria that are used to assign the ecological weights are the "high efficiency of evapotranspiration, ability to capture water from soil and its storage, ability of powder fixation with a reduction of suspended dusts, conservation and long-term development of soil functions (filtering, buffering and transformation of pollutants and hazardous substances), availability of suitable habitats for plants and animals" [29].…”

Section: State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semi-Automatic Method to Evaluate Ecological Value of Urban Settlements with the Biotope Area Factor Index: Sources and Logical Framework

2022

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As the number of people living in cities continues to increase and as their needs continue rapidly to evolve, planners and scholars have been encouraged to define what constitutes high levels of quality of life in urban settlements. The relationship of an area’s inhabitants with natural and green resources increases urban environmental value, which is one of the most relevant aspects in the determination of the quality of life in built-up contexts. Moreover, it is fundamental to find quantitative parameters that can monitor the development of planning processes, working together with natural systems. The authors present a comparative method that can be used to analyze and evaluate the ecological value of urban settlements, using a semi-automatic process that is based on calculating the biotope area factor (BAF) using different open-access databases (a cartographic dataset, aerial imagery, and Sentinel-2 images). Two different Italian case studies that are set in the Milan metropolitan area are presented. In this paper, the authors describe the two settlements using the city-planning parameters of physical structure and morphology; they show the ecological differences and similarities throughout the various remote sensing sources and data. Finally, the authors indicate how the research can be developed, highlighting the weaknesses, the potentiality, the replicability process, and the urban planning implications of the methodology.

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Section: State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Semi-Automatic Method to Evaluate Ecological Value of Urban Settlements with the Biotope Area Factor Index: Sources and Logical Framework

2022

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“…When research is performed at a larger scale, e.g., in a city or a district, existing LULC maps or visual analysis on high resolution orthophotos can be used as input data to evaluate soil sealing [30,31]. A well-known urban index to classify soil sealing is the Biotope Area Factor (BAF), which was first applied in 1990 by Berlin Municipality [32] as a standard to foster sustainable urban planning.…”

Section: Mapping and Assessing Soil Sealing In Eu And Italy: State Of The Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Intermediate values depend on the depth of pervious soil covering. This classification method implies that soil perviousness is considered an essential requirement for an ecologically sustainable urban development [31].…”

Section: The Biotope Area Factor: a Tool To Assess Urban Soil Sealingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping and Assessing Soil Sealing in Padua Municipality through Biotope Area Factor Index

et al. 2020

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Soil sealing is a worldwide phenomenon of covering of natural or seminatural soil with impervious surfaces, such as built-up or paved surfaces. It is widely recognized as a major environmental issue which drives landscape fragmentation and ecosystem services degradation and loss. Italy is one of European countries with the highest extent of soil sealing. The most affected area is northern Italy, especially the Po Valley with more than 12% of sealed surfaces. According to official data, Veneto Region and the city of Padua are seriously affected by this phenomenon. The Biotope Area Factor is a consolidated ecological urban index for mapping soil sealing, adopted in different European cities to support urban planning; it expresses the ratio of the ecologically effective surface area in relation to the total land area according to land cover classes. The general aim of this study is to map and to assess soil sealing in the whole municipal territory of Padua using the Biotope Area Factor (BAF) index. We tested and adopted a digital land cover map together with aerial images to perform a BAF analysis on the whole municipal territory of Padua. By using sample areas previously analyzed, we validated our source data by a double spatial validation process; therefore, soil sealing analysis was scaled-up to the municipality territory. Results show that in the city of Padua, the average BAF index value is 0.6; totally permeable surfaces (BAF = 1) cover 59.5%, whereas totally “sealed” surfaces (BAF = 0) are 40.3% of the municipal territory (93 km2). Most of the sealed soil is located in the east sector and in the historical core of the city, with BAF values ranging from 0 to 0.2. A particularly critical area is identified within the new industrial area of the city, which is strongly affected by soil sealing. BAF maps are useful tools to identify critical areas by geovisualizing surface permeability at a very detailed scale and by enabling further analyses for hydrogeological risk assessment and urban climate regulation. Moreover, the use of BAF maps at urban scale today represent an important tool for urban management, especially for policy makers who are planning mitigation and compensation measures to control soil sealing.

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“…Generally, the soil sealing phenomenon is investigated using statistical data on a local basis (municipalities and provinces), aerial imagery (satellites images or ortho-photos), and LiDAR [27][28][29]. When using remote sensed images, different vegetation-based (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index-NDVI, Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index-SAVI, Normal Difference Built-up Index-NDBI) and ecological urban indexes (Biotope Area Factor, BAF) are adopted to assess soil sealing [30][31][32].…”

Section: Soil Sealing In Europe and Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

Biotope Area Factor: An Ecological Urban Index to Geovisualize Soil Sealing in Padua, Italy

et al. 2019

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Over the last few years, soil sealing has been recognized as one of the major threats in terms of soil degradation and loss of ecosystem services. Although many efforts have been promoted to increase the awareness of safeguarding soil for stakeholders, its value as a non-renewable resource as well as soil-related services in urban ecosystems is not implemented enough in urban planning and policies. Due to the spatially explicit component and the geographical scale of soil sealing, mapping and quantifying the number of sealed surfaces is crucial. The aim of this paper was to estimate and geovisualize the soil sealed in the city of Padua (Italy) at a very detailed scale, testing the use of the Biotope Area Factor (BAF) index. Moreover, the paper aimed to simulate an alternative mitigation scenario in a specific study area of the city. Spatial analysis was performed testing the BAF index in a Geographic Information Sistem (GIS) environment and using aerial ortho-photos at very high resolution. The results show different values of the BAF index for all four neighborhoods from 0.35 to 0.69. In the mitigation scenario, the value of the BAF index was improved using a measure of green roofs. In conclusion, the paper provides an insightful case study for enriching the debate about soil sealing and gives scientific support for sustainable urban planning.

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Estimating the Biotope Area Factor (BAF) by Means of Existing Digital Maps and GIS Technology

Cited by 7 publications

References 4 publications

Semi-Automatic Method to Evaluate Ecological Value of Urban Settlements with the Biotope Area Factor Index: Sources and Logical Framework

Semi-Automatic Method to Evaluate Ecological Value of Urban Settlements with the Biotope Area Factor Index: Sources and Logical Framework

Mapping and Assessing Soil Sealing in Padua Municipality through Biotope Area Factor Index

Biotope Area Factor: An Ecological Urban Index to Geovisualize Soil Sealing in Padua, Italy

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