Symposium on Remote Sensing for Resources Development and Environmental Management / Enschede / August 1986 
An analysis of remote sensing for monitoring urban derelict land 
E.C.Hyatt, J.L.Gray & W.G.Collins 
Remote Sensing Unit, Aston University, UK 
ABSTRACT: The use of aerial photography and the potential of 
Thematic Mapper satellite imagery for monitoring urban derelict 
land areas are considered. Aerial photography is revealed to be an 
accurate assessor of derelict and waste land sites at a mapping 
scale of 1: 10 000, comparing favourably, and being compatible with 
trends determined by local authorities. 
The role of satellite data and their problems and prospects are 
reviewed in the context of urban area studies. 
Introduction 
The aims of this paper are to review the use 
of aerial photography in derelict land 
studies of the West Midlands Metropolitan 
County area, and to provide an assessment of 
the potential in satellite monitoring of this 
problem. 
The evaluation of a site in the Dudley 
County Borough of the Dudley Metropolitan 
District Council is presented as an example 
of the utility of aerial photography in 
change detection and accurate monitoring of 
derelict and waste land use patterns in a 
dense urban conurbation. 
A remote sensing system for derelict land 
monitoring using Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper 
(TM) imagery is proposed and its application 
critically evaluated with regard to the 
findings of previous urban studies employing 
satellite data. 
Dereliction in historical perspective 
Birmingham was revealed to be the third worst 
area in the UK for dereliction, as a 
percentage of total County area, by the 
Department of the Environment's (DOE) 1974 
Survey. This amounts to 1.7% under the DOE 
(1975) classification, but nearer 4.4% using 
the West Midlands County Council (WMCC) 
classification, the difference is explained 
in a later section. The WMCC's 1980/82 
survey revealed that by the end of 1980 
nearly 5%, 4800 hectares (ha) out of 86,664 
ha, could be classed as derelict. 
Representing an increase of nearly 1000 ha, 
or 26%, on the 1974 figures, 75% of that 
increase was within the Black Country 
District of Dudley, Walsall, Sandwell and 
Wolverhampton. 
According to Cave (1983), the amount of 
land becoming derelict in the County exceeds 
that being reclaimed by 29%, while the DOE 
(1977) state that nationally land becoming 
derelict exceeds that being reclaimed by 1500 
ha/year. It seems ironic that this should be 
the case, with Birminghams potential 
considered by virtue of its location at the 
centre of the national road and rail 
networks. 
The Black Country has a history of 
extractive and heavy industries, making it 
inevitably an area of acute dereliction. 
However the legacy of despoiled land left 
from over 500 ninteeth century collieries was 
substantially reduced from 5,760 ha in 1903 
to 3933 ha in 1946 and to 1554 ha in 1965, a 
net decrease of over 60%. Beaver (1945) 
suggests that this reclamation was for 
housing and industrial development during the 
inter and post war periods, however little 
attention was paid to planning. 
The aim of The Town and Country Planning 
Act of 1947 was to produce development plans 
that discouraged the mixing of industrial and 
other land uses. The West Midlands Advisory 
Plan of 1948 attempted to prevent excessive 
industrial growth in the districts. Since 
this was never published, there was no 
regional framework for local authorities to 
produce their development plans. The high 
levels of industrial decentralization never 
materialized, despite the regulated 
development encouraged by the Town 
Development Act of 1952. Instead as Johnson 
(1958) noted, enclaves of industry, 
surrounded by housing, had spread across the 
entire area, with the emphasis on industrial 
strip development along the dense rail and 
canal network. Derelict land was consumed by 
industry to the extent that between 1948 and 
1964, and 1964 to 1975, 43% and 36% 
respectively of all land used for development 
was formerly classed as derelict. 
The economic slump has taken its toll of 
the traditional manufacturing industries. 
Coupled with the formation of the West 
Midlands Metropolitan County Council (WMMCC) 
in 1972 which ensured the differentral 
decentralization of people and firms through 
comprehensive redevelopment and planning 
policies, the relative locational advantages 
of the Black Country were lost, assisting the 
closure of many firms and increasing the 
number of redundant industrial properties. 
Cave's (1984) survey for the WMCC reveals 
that 765 vacant properties in the Black 
Country accounted for an area 1689 ha large, 
and that 28 of the largest properties 
comprised over 50% of the total site area 
vacant, which will probably encourage 
aggregation. 
In an attempt to remedy the situation, the 
Land Reclamation Programme, which previously 
concentrated on open space schemes by virtue 
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