Identifying where and when urban renewal occurs: a continuous change detection-based framework using two decades’ worth of Landsat data

Urban renewal plays a central role in enhancing city liveability by rebuilding outdated structures into productive and vibrant spaces. While satellite remote sensing enables physical characterization of urban environments, identifying the precise location and timing of renewal remains challenging. H...

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Main Authors: Chong Liu, Qi Zhang, Huabing Huang, Hanzeyu Xu, Xiao Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-08-01
Series:International Journal of Digital Earth
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2510573
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author Chong Liu
Qi Zhang
Huabing Huang
Hanzeyu Xu
Xiao Cheng
author_facet Chong Liu
Qi Zhang
Huabing Huang
Hanzeyu Xu
Xiao Cheng
author_sort Chong Liu
collection DOAJ
description Urban renewal plays a central role in enhancing city liveability by rebuilding outdated structures into productive and vibrant spaces. While satellite remote sensing enables physical characterization of urban environments, identifying the precise location and timing of renewal remains challenging. Here we developed a 30 m city-scale urban renewal mapping framework with the use of dense Landsat time-series information. By leveraging the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm, we designed a decision tree model to identify pixels experiencing urban renewal and utilized the temporal contextual knowledge to estimate temporal metrics, including start time (ST), end time (ET), and duration (DUR). Experimental results in Beijing city confirmed the feasibility of the framework, achieving spatial and temporal accuracies of 82.36% and 71.39~86.60%, respectively. Our mapping results revealed that the total area of urban renewal within the study area reached 340[Formula: see text]55 km2 from 1999 to 2019, distributed unevenly along the urban-rural gradient. We also identified the dominance of quick demolition and reconstruction implementation accomplished within five years. The framework provides a new paradigm for continuously monitoring city development from the perspective of urban renewal, thus supporting the improvement of urban land planning and management.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1753-8947
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publishDate 2025-08-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series International Journal of Digital Earth
spelling doaj-art-6335a6ae5a1b4e9db5bb8218dc80efd02025-08-25T11:32:00ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Digital Earth1753-89471753-89552025-08-0118110.1080/17538947.2025.2510573Identifying where and when urban renewal occurs: a continuous change detection-based framework using two decades’ worth of Landsat dataChong Liu0Qi Zhang1Huabing Huang2Hanzeyu Xu3Xiao Cheng4School of Geospatial Engineering and Science, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Geography and Environment, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USASchool of Geospatial Engineering and Science, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaJiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Cultivation and Physiology, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaSchool of Geospatial Engineering and Science, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaUrban renewal plays a central role in enhancing city liveability by rebuilding outdated structures into productive and vibrant spaces. While satellite remote sensing enables physical characterization of urban environments, identifying the precise location and timing of renewal remains challenging. Here we developed a 30 m city-scale urban renewal mapping framework with the use of dense Landsat time-series information. By leveraging the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) algorithm, we designed a decision tree model to identify pixels experiencing urban renewal and utilized the temporal contextual knowledge to estimate temporal metrics, including start time (ST), end time (ET), and duration (DUR). Experimental results in Beijing city confirmed the feasibility of the framework, achieving spatial and temporal accuracies of 82.36% and 71.39~86.60%, respectively. Our mapping results revealed that the total area of urban renewal within the study area reached 340[Formula: see text]55 km2 from 1999 to 2019, distributed unevenly along the urban-rural gradient. We also identified the dominance of quick demolition and reconstruction implementation accomplished within five years. The framework provides a new paradigm for continuously monitoring city development from the perspective of urban renewal, thus supporting the improvement of urban land planning and management.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2510573Urban renewalland coversegments classificationchange detectionCCDC
spellingShingle Chong Liu
Qi Zhang
Huabing Huang
Hanzeyu Xu
Xiao Cheng
Identifying where and when urban renewal occurs: a continuous change detection-based framework using two decades’ worth of Landsat data
International Journal of Digital Earth
Urban renewal
land cover
segments classification
change detection
CCDC
title Identifying where and when urban renewal occurs: a continuous change detection-based framework using two decades’ worth of Landsat data
title_full Identifying where and when urban renewal occurs: a continuous change detection-based framework using two decades’ worth of Landsat data
title_fullStr Identifying where and when urban renewal occurs: a continuous change detection-based framework using two decades’ worth of Landsat data
title_full_unstemmed Identifying where and when urban renewal occurs: a continuous change detection-based framework using two decades’ worth of Landsat data
title_short Identifying where and when urban renewal occurs: a continuous change detection-based framework using two decades’ worth of Landsat data
title_sort identifying where and when urban renewal occurs a continuous change detection based framework using two decades worth of landsat data
topic Urban renewal
land cover
segments classification
change detection
CCDC
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/17538947.2025.2510573
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