The Urban World

Data Sources

The Urban World draws on satellite-derived, globally consistent datasets to measure urbanization. This page describes each data source, how we process it, and what it measures.

Pipeline overview

Raw raster data is downloaded, reprojected, and aggregated into two canonical datasets:

  • GHSL Grid 1 km — population and built-up area on a regular 1 km Mollweide grid
  • GHSL H3 Resolution 8 — the same variables reaggregated onto Uber's H3 hexagonal grid

Both datasets cover seven epochs: 1975, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025, and 2030.

Data SourcesSpatial GridsDerived DatasetsWhat You SeePopulation Rasters1 km resolution, Mollweide projection.12 epochs from 1975 to 2030.GHSL-POP R2023A, JRCCity AttributesThematic attributes for ~10,000 urbancentres worldwide.GHSL-UCDB R2024A, JRCCity BoundariesMulti-temporal polygons tracking urbanextent per epoch.GHSL-MTUC R2024A, JRCH3 Hexagonal GridResolution 8 (~0.55–0.74 km² percell). Raster pixel centroids assigned to H3 cells.1 km Regular GridEqual-area Mollweide projection. Eachpixel = exactly 1 km².City PopulationsSum of cell populations withinboundaries at each epoch.Rankings & GrowthGrowth rates, density rankings, peercomparisons across epochs.Radial Density ProfilesBertaud-style: pop-weighted centroid,1 km concentric rings to 50 km.Population Density MapChoropleth of H3 or grid cells with6-step density gradient.City InformationPopulation, area, density time seriesper city.City RankingsSortable rankings by population,density, growth.Density Profile ChartsRadial charts showing density gradientfrom centre. H3 hexagonal path 1 km grid path

Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL)

The Global Human Settlement Layer is produced by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). It provides global, open, multi-temporal data on human presence on Earth.

What it measures

  • GHS-POP — population distribution grids (residents per cell)
  • GHS-BUILT-S — built-up surface area (square meters of built footprint per cell)

Both products are available at 1 km and 100 m resolution, in the Mollweide equal-area projection.

Temporal coverage

GHSL R2023A provides data for epochs: 1975, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025, and 2030. The 2025 and 2030 epochs are model-based projections.

How we use it

We download the 1 km resolution GHS-POP and GHS-BUILT-S rasters, extract values for each city's extent, and aggregate them into population, density, and area statistics.

Schiavina, M., Freire, S., Carioli, A., MacManus, K. (2023). GHS-POP R2023A.

an observatory of urban complexity · by Urbancodes