1.4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS
This chapter has discussed the rationale and motivation leading to the publication of this new edition on urban remote sensing. Then, it has provided an overview on some essential and emerging areas that are shifting the directions in urban remote sensing research over the past decade, followed by a preview of the book structure and the major topics covered in the book.
While exciting progress has been made in urban remote sensing during the past ten years, as discussed in this new edition, there are several major conceptual or technical areas deserving further attentions. Firstly, while a clear transition in urban remote sensing research from being technologically driven into being problem‐solving motivated has been observed, we herewith call for a systematic consideration of all components in a project, conceptual or technical, in order to obtain the best possible outcome. Secondly, urban remote sensing research has been shifting beyond observing physical patterns and into understanding underlying processes, and into pursuing toward urban sustainability. To accommodate this transformation, urban remote sensing researchers should be equipped with not only solid technical skills for monitoring, analysis, and modeling but also essential knowledge on cities including relevant core concepts, theoretical debates, and emerging methods. Thirdly, there has been an increasing trend for an urban remote sensing project to use data from diverse sources including not only multi‐temporal and multi‐sensor images but also big geotagged data from social sensing. It is important to maintain and probably strengthen research efforts in developing practical methods that can help derive reliable information from diverse and heterogenous datasets. Last, more efforts should be made in urban remote sensing education to train the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists who not only can develop essential knowledge to understanding cities but also link knowledge to action in search of a transition towards urban sustainability.
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