Monitoring vegetation change associated with the Riyadh Green Initiative using satellite data

Abstract

Urban greening is central to improving liveability in hot-arid cities. In Riyadh, daily maximum temperatures can reach 52°C during summer, increasing the importance of urban greening for heat-stress reduction. In this context, the Green Riyadh initiative has become an important programme for improving the urban environment. However, there remains limited neighbourhood-scale evidence showing where vegetation cover has increased or declined across different parts of Riyadh. This study provides neighbourhood-scale evidence of vegetation change in selected districts of Riyadh by comparing vegetation conditions between 2017 and 2025. Landsat 8 surface reflectance imagery from 2017 and 2025 was used to compare baseline and recent vegetation conditions.