Urban planning and decision-making for sustainable development urgently need data of high spatial resolution to establish the relationship between the socio-economic performance of the urban system and its different sub-units (i.e. housing schemes, commercial and industrial developments, services) on the one hand and their environmental impacts of these subunits on the other. To achieve this task, a system was developed to delineate urban land cover units. The approach was tested for the city of Munich. The units delineate the fine-grained pattern of urban built-up and open spaces. The typology was based on established categories of zoning and development plans. In addition, the units were delineated on an aggregated scale to generate a synoptic understanding of the urban "metabolism" for different "strategic" levels of urban planning. A case study on urban hydrology is presented to characterize aspects of the metabolism of the urban system. Additional case studies covered urban climates, energy demand for space heating and carbon dioxide emissions. Results showed that the cover units and types had distinct environmental features. Furthermore the causal links with urban physical and land use features were investigated. Based on the hydrological case study, environmental targets and standards to promote sustainable development are proposed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
