Evaluating urban expansion using remotely-sensed data in Lebanon

Abstract EN

Over the last decades, continuous urban expansion at rates much higher than population growth has resulted in a massive urban footprint all over the world.

In Lebanon, a civil war in the mid 70’s has resulted in a low density and fragmented urban sprawl.

Nearly after 1990, when the declaration of Taaef ended the Lebanese war, a major reconstruction and reforms have taken place.

This peaceful atmosphere launched a massive construction of roads and buildings, water and sanitation facilities, and energy and transport systems, which transformed eternally land cover and cities of Lebanon.

This study aims to follow the evolution of urbanization from 1963 till 2005 in Lebanese major cities by processing and interpreting topographical maps and satellite images acquired by different space platforms.

One examines urban growth trends in Lebanon between different years and provide a characterization of Lebanese urban development per governorate and per district.

Also, we inspect urban agglomeration in Greater Beirut Area (GBA), which is the main urban center in the country, as well as seven major Lebanese cities (i.e.

Tripoli, Zahle, Saida, Tyre, Baalbek, Nabatiye and Jounieh).

Some cities show a positive trend (e.g.

Zahle illustrates a urban expansion from 3 percent of its district region in 1963 to 10 percent in 2005, Tripoli grows from 20 to 56 percent of the district in 2005, etc.).

While Nabatiye, and South Lebanon region in general, reveal a high rate of urbanization, a weak rate of urban expansion is shown particularly in North Lebanon.

Political favoritism is one of the main reason to blame.

Anyhow, the adequacy of the remote sensing in evaluating urbanism is proven again, particularly in unstable countries and regions.

This research intends to provide policy makers in Lebanon an essential decision tool, given the absence of a comprehensive population survey, to build and support sustainable urban planning-