Exploring the potential climate change impact on urban growth in London by a cellular automata-based Markov chain model

Urbanization has become a global trend under the combined influence of population growth, socioeconomic development, and globalization. Even though recent urban planning in London has been more deliberate, the relationships between climate change and urban growth in the context of economic geography are still somewhat unclear. This study relies on rainfall prediction with the aid of the Statistical DownScaling Model (SDSM), which provides the statistical foundation for future flooding potential within the urban space of London while considering major socioeconomic policies related to land use management. These SDSM findings, along with current land use policies, were included as other factors or constraints in a cellular automata-based Markov Chain model to simulate and predict land use changes in London for 2030 and 2050. Two scenarios with the inclusion and exclusion of flood impact factor, respectively, were applied to evaluate the impact of climate change on urban growth. Findings indicated: (1) mean monthly projected precipitation derived by SDSM is expected to increase for the year 2030 in London, which will affect the flooding potential and hence the area of open space; (2) urban and open space are expected to increase > 16 and 20 km2 (in percentage of 1.51 and 1.92 compared to 2012) in 2030 and 2050, respectively, while agriculture is expected to decrease significantly due to urbanization and climate change; (3) the inclusion of potential flood impact induced from the future precipitation variability drives the development toward more open space and less urban area.