Understanding the urban structure of the Algerian cities using emerging data: Case study of Algiers

Abstract

Despite the identification of urban structure and urban centers being crucial for effective policy making (transport policies, urban risk management policies etc) there is a serious lack of studies covering developing countries' urban structure changes, especially north African cities. This is mainly due to the unavailability of the necessary data for urban structure identification. In this contribution we investigate the polycentric development in the Algerian capital, Algiers, using innovative data resources such as LandScanTM High Resolution Global Population Dataset and the POI approach, and spatial statistics. The findings suggest that the structure of Algiers is indeed developing into a polycentric city. The emerging data helped us overcome a serious methodological problem and objectively identify the city structure for better planning.