World of spreading cities seen from space – an example chapter of the SEOS project

Cities are increasing in size and number all over the planet and especially in the developing countries. The growth of mega cities and settlements can be visualized and analysed with the help of modern remote sensing methods and time series of various satellite systems. Bringing this global and current topic vividly into schools is the aim of one module chapter in the European remote sensing project called “Science Education through Earth Observation for High Schools” (SEOS, Activity Code AERO-2005-2.3.2.1e).
In this project altogether 15 interactive learning modules in five areas are under development at eleven European partners. The Department of Geography at the University of Education Heidelberg is developing two modules, one about the basic methodology of remote sensing and one module about using satellite images monitoring land use changes where the topic of urbanization processes is presented.
The aim of the second module is to build awareness for the problems of land cover, land use change and land consumption in example areas with the help of satellite images in different landscape zones. An understanding for the local and global causes of land cover and land use change should be created through using satellite images and interactive learning modules. The focus of the presentation will be on analysing global urbanization processes, the increase of million and mega cities and on a case study city. The users should, after working with the module, be able to evaluate the ecological and economical consequences of land cover and land use changes and should analyse the future of urban areas.