Analysis of landuse change in periphery of Tokyo during last twenty years using the same seasonal Landsat data

Urbanized areas are growing rapidly with the concentration of city functions and the increment of population, and the natural environment has been deteriorating. This paper reports the increasing urbanization occurring through changes in landuse, population, and land price in Japan's national capital city, Tokyo, during the past twenty years. Selecting the capital city and the periphery of Tokyo as the test region, the areas within this region were classified according to the distance from the center of Tokyo and the access to the capital city by train. The landuse change for each area can be characterized according to the classification of artificially developed areas, areas of vegetation cover and others. The process of urbanization in the capital city of Tokyo is further discussed. (C) 1998 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.