Extension urbaine et densité de la population à Kinshasa : contribution de la télédétection satellitaire

The use of SPOT images of 1995 allowed to trace the limits of the communes of Kinshasa. The measurement of their areas underlined significant errors compared to areas mentioned in the census of 1984. Then, a classification of the SPOT image led to the identification of built-up areas. Overlayed with the limits of the communes within a geographic information system, built-up areas per commune were compared to the typology of Flouriot (1975). Then, population densities were computed using the built-up area. Finally, we show that the extension of the city of Kinshasa co-exists with a densification phenomena and that densification absorbed nearly two third of the population increase between 1969 and 1995.