Abstract
Discerning the relationship between urban structure and function is
crucial for sustainable city planning and requires examination of how
components in urban systems are organized in three-dimensional space.
The Structure of Urban Landscape (STURLA) classification accounts for
the compositional complexity of urban landcover structures including the
built and natural environment. Building on previous research, we develop
a STURLA classification for Philadelphia, PA and study the relationship
between urban structure and land surface temperature. We evaluate the
results in Philadelphia as compared to previous case studies in Berlin,
Germany and New York City, USA. In Philadelphia, STURLA classes hosted
ST that were unique and significantly different as compared to all other
classes. We find a similar distribution of STURLA class composition
across the three cities, though NYC and Berlin showed strong correlation
with each other but not with Philadelphia. Our research highlights the
use of STURLA classification to capture a physical property of the urban
landscape.