ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the general pattern of urban land cover change in northeastern Illinois between 1972 and 1997, using Landsat -acquired, remotely sensed images. The Chicago metropolitan region, like most of the other metropolitan areas in the country, experienced dramatic land cover change in the past few decades. Accompanying the redistribution of population and decentralization of metropolitan functions are the tremendous growth and development of outlying suburban areas. An important step toward a regional analysis is to understand the pattern and the quantitative results of urban land change. The objectives of this study are to obtain a quantitative description of the spatial pattern of urban land cover changes; to help in understanding the relations between urban land cover change and its driving factors; and to provide technical protocol and background data for a regional impact study. Eight northeastern Illinois counties that encompass the city of Chicago, its suburbs, and the surroundings were the study area: Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties.
