Environmental impact assessment of transportation and land alteration using Earth observational datasets: Comparative study between cities in Asia and Europe

Developments in the transportation field are emerging because of the growing worldwide demand and upgrading requirements. This study measured the transportation development, shortage distance, and decadal land transformation of Kuala Lumpur and Madrid using various remote sensing and GIS approaches. The kernel density estimation (KDE) tool was applied for road and railway density analysis, and hotspot information increased the knowledge about assessable areas. Landsat datasets were used (1991–2021) for land transformation and related analyses. The built-up land increased by 1327.27 and 404.09 km² in Kuala Lumpur and Madrid, respectively. In the last thirty years, the temperature increased 6.45 °C in Kuala Lumpur and 4.15 °C in Madrid owing to urban expansion and road construction. Chamberi, Retiro, Moratalaz, Salama, Wangsa Maju, Titiwangsa, Bukit Bintang, and Seputeh have very high road densities. KDE measurements showed that the road densities in Kuala Lumpur (4498.34) and Madrid (9099.15) were high in the central parts of the city, and the railway densities were 348.872 and 2197.87, respectively. The observed P values were 0.99 and 0.96 for traffic signals and 0.98 and 0.99 for bus stops, respectively. The information provided by this study can support local planners, administrators, scientists, and researchers in understanding the global transportation issues that require implementation strategies for ensuring sustainable livelihoods.