A multi-scale urban analysis of the Hyderabad metropolitan area using remote sensing and GIS

Hyderabad in India is a sprawling metropolis and an incipient megacity facing structural, environmental, social and economic problems. An interdisciplinary research approach provides a holistic perspective on the urban characteristics to develop strategies for a more sustainable future. Thus, a multi-scale analysis of the urban area by remote sensing provides up-to-date data of the urban morphology. An overview analysis with a time series of Landsat data shows the dynamic growth of the urban area, its direction as well as the current spatial extension. QickBird data enable a highly detailed analysis of the structural characteristics of specific neighborhoods. These data provide the spatial basis within the GIS database complemented by further information from the city administration (e.g. population data, land use data) and finally detailed data from surveys. The combination of various perspectives of temporal and spatial urban characteristics can be used by different disciplines. This enables a value-added and more holistic view to understand urban workflows and their dependencies.