Buenos Aires

Urban Expansion into Low-Lying Areas

By Rebecca Crane

A City at Risk

Mapping Goal: Determine which municipalities in the Greater Buenos Aires region have had the highest rate of urban development in low-lying areas

from 1990 to 2010.

Buenos Aires is located in an extremely low-lying region with little natural drainage. During the past twenty years, the city has spread outwards. With no central oversight of planning codes, many municipalities have allowed developers to build in low-lying areas. Now, a quarter of the metropolitan area is in a potential flood zone. (Mehrotra, 2009)

Source: USGS

Global Land Satellite 7-4-2 Mosaic Map, Buenos Aires 1990

Global Land Sat Images, Mosaic Band Combination 7-4-2 1990 & 2010

GLS 1990

GLS 2010

Source: USGS

Global Land Sat Images, Supervised Classification 1990 & 2010

GLS 1990

GLS 2010

Source: USGS

Global Land Sat Images, Reclassification 1990 & 2010

GLS 1990

GLS 2010

Source: USGS

Source: USGS

New Urban Development, 1990 to 2010

Sources: USGS & Open Street Maps

Raster Elevation Map & Greater Buenos Aires Municipal Boundaries

Reclassified Raster Map

Sources: USGS & Open Street Maps

Low Elevation Extraction

Sources: USGS & Open Street Maps

Comparing Raster Files Once new urbanization had been extracted and low-elevation areas had been delineated, it was possible to combine the two images to find the recently-developed, low-lying areas:

Sources • Aster Global Dem. USGS: Earth Explorer.

http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

• Global Land Survey. USGS: Earth Explorer. http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/

• Mehrotra, S., Natenzon, C.E., Omojola, A., Folorunsho, R., Gilbride J., and Rosenzweig, C., (2009). Framework for City Climate Risk Assessment. Paper presented at the Fifth Urban Research Symposium, Marseille, France, June 28-30, 2009.

• Open Street Maps Data. Metro Teczno. http://metro.teczno.com/