SETTLEMENT INDICATORS OF WELLBEING AND ECONOMIC STATUS - LACUNARITY AND VEGETATION

This research combines geospatial and image analysis to develop indicators of wellbeing that distinguish poor/informal communities from wealthy/planned ones in a study site in Latin America. By masking to the irregularshaped neighborhoods of dwelling-areas enclosed by roads and terrain features, we zero-in on those characteristics that apply to neighborhoods where people live and not the surrounding, unrelated features. Using the actual shapes of settled areas and their spectral values from high resolution satellite imagery we can elicit key structural components of vegetation and the built-up in-between gaps to develop indicators that allow us to compare and differentiate settlement types. The objective is to quantify a settlement type using applied measures of lacunarity, fractal dimension, and landscape patch attributes to evaluate relative poverty or wealth, and build a better understanding of the quality of life of the underlying residents.