Chapter 15
The City is the Medium and Satellite Imagery Are a Prism
Conceptualizing Urban Conflict Damage Monitoring with Multitemporal Remote Sensing Data
Jamon Van Den Hoek,
Jamon Van Den Hoek
Geography Program, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Search for more papers by this authorJamon Van Den Hoek,
Jamon Van Den Hoek
Geography Program, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Search for more papers by this authorBook Editor(s):Xiaojun Yang,
Xiaojun Yang
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
Widespread, repeat damage within cities is a hallmark of modern and increasingly urbanized warfare. Multitemporal satellite remote sensing is well suited for monitoring urban conflict damage patterns, providing unique and actionable insights for protecting civilians, guiding humanitarian response and relief, and identifying affected infrastructure throughout a conflict. However, satellite image time series monitoring of urban conflict damage has struggled to offer substantive information beyond what is already known from georeferenced conflict event databases and results of bi-temporal (before/after) satellite image change detection. Current shortcomings can be addressed by better recognizing the spatial and temporal linkages between conflict processes, urban morphology, and the pathways for damage expression and detection across the urban fabric. In this chapter, scholarship on remote sensing of urban conflict damage is synthesized, linkages between urban conflict processes and urban damage patterns are discussed, and a theory of change to guide multitemporal satellite-based monitoring of urban conflict is proposed. Recognizing the various pathways that violent urban conflict manifests as damage and the means by which damage can be detected using multitemporal satellite data paves the way for heightened understanding of vulnerability as well as resilience of urban populations and infrastructure during wartime .
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