Sprawling Shanghai 

Geographers who have studied the growth of China’s cities over the past four decades tend to sum up the pace of change with one word: unprecedented. In 1960, about 110 million people, or 16% of the population, lived in cities. By 2024, the number increased to 951 million and 67% of the population. By comparison, the entire population of the United States was about 340 million people as of July 2024. 

Perhaps no city epitomizes the urbanization trend better than Shanghai. For more than four decades, Landsat satellites have collected images of Shanghai. This series from Landsat 5, 7, 8, and 9 shows the city’s growing footprint between 1984 and 2025. Developed areas appear gray and white; farmland and forests are green; shallow, sediment-filled water is tan. Composite images show how the wider region along the Yangtze River Delta has expanded since 1984. Note how neighboring cities like Suzhou and Wuxi have slowly merged with Shanghai to create one continuous megalopolis. 


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