Defining Local Climate Zone (Urban and Rural Domain) for Richmond, VA using ArcGIS

Course: GIS Algorithms and Programming

George Mason University

Geospatial Workflows to analyze Urban Heat Island

Problem Introduction:

Cities alter local climate through urban heat and rainfall anomalies. To study this effect, I needed a reliable way to distinguish urban cores from surrounding suburban and rural areas.

Solution:

    Defined Local Climate Zones (LCZs) for Richmond, VA, by delineating an urban core and generating concentric suburban (R1) and rural (R2) buffers using ArcGIS Pro and Python (arcpy)

📊 Data Sources

  • Global Human Settlement Layer (GHSL)
    100m resolution built-up surface raster (2023)
  • Greater Richmond shapefile
    Administrative boundary data

🛠️ Tools & Techniques

  • ArcGIS Pro
    GUI + arcpy scripting
  • Spatial Analysis
    Raster reclassification, raster-to-polygon conversion, buffer analysis

Methods Highlights

Data Preprocessing

Reprojected rasters for CRS alignment, clipped rasters to metro boundary.

Data preprocessing visualization

Classification

Reclassified built-up intensity into 3 categories (urban core, suburban/transition, rural) using percentile thresholds.

Classification visualization

Raster → Vector Conversion

Converted binary raster to polygon features for spatial analysis.

Raster to Vector conversion visualization

Manual Editing + Automation

Combined arcpy scripting with GUI selection for precise delineation.

Automation visualization

Buffer Analysis

Produced concentric buffers R1(immediate suburban) and R2(rural buffer) around the urban core polygon (U) to compare urban impact on local climate across zones.

Buffer analysis visualization

Key Findings

Produced three concentric zones: Urban (U), Suburban (R1), Rural (R2)

Method enables comparative climate analysis of heat and rainfall patterns between urban and non-urban areas

Contact

Please feel free to contact me at my email address or through my LinkedIn Account below.

Email: aashmaacharya12@gmail.com

LinkedIn GitHub

© 2025, Aasma Acharya

});