Analysis of vegetation indices in low-density forested urban environments with dry climates. Case: Mendoza's Metorpolitan Area (MMA), Argentina

ARBOIT MARIELA EDITH

New York

Conferencia; International conference on sustainable development; 2017

Columbia University

The object of this work is to study the vegetation coverage present in the low-density urban environment in the metropolitan area of Mendoza (AMM), Argentina, in order to understand the morphology of forested city in an arid climate.On the urban green space level, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) have been quantified from satellite data, for 32 representative city blocks in the AMM. The results obtained indicate mean values for the 32 environments analyzed of 0.206, with the highest indices of 0.290 through the positive effect of vegetation cover, and, on the other hand, with minimum indices of 0.148 in environments with a low percentage of urban trees and a high quantity of mineralized surface directly exposed to solar radiation.As a result of such a process, it is possible to determine current conditions and the formulation of an environmental diagnosis based on Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, adapted to consolidated environments of low density in a model of a forested city in arid climate, and it is hoped that this work presents the possibility of evaluating the energy impact of vegetation cover to implement future norms and rules aimed both at preserving the forested city model, in equilibrium with a model of the sustainable city, and at reversing urban-building growth that does not take such factual indicators into consideration.