Welcome...

prof.dr. M. Kuffer (Monika)

Associate Professor

About Me

Monika Kuffer is working as Associate professor at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC, University of Twente). Her main research interests are urban remote sensing, SDG monitoring, mapping deprived areas (e.g., slums), and analyzing urban form and dynamics with remote sensing and spatial statistics/metrics. She is co-chairing an international network on deprivation area mapping IDEAMAPS (https://ideamapsnetwork.org), and is presently working on two research projects related to deprivation area mapping SLUMAP (http://slumap.ulb.be) and ACCOUNT (https://slummap.net). She received her PhD from the University of Twente (NL) and one MSc in Human Geographer (TU Munich), and a second MSc in Geographic Information Science (University of London).

 

Expertise

Earth & Environmental Sciences
City
Earth Observation
Imagery
Informal Settlement
Remote Sensing
Urban Area
Social Sciences
Deprivation
Slum

Publications

Recent
Owusu, M., Nair, A., Jafari, A. , Thomson, D. , Kuffer, M., & Engstrom, R. (2024). Towards a scalable and transferable approach to map deprived areas using Sentinel-2 images and machine learning. Computers, environment and urban systems, 109, 102075. Article 102075. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2024.102075
Engstrom, R. , Owusu, M., Nair, A., Jafari, A. , Thomson, D. , & Kuffer, M. (2023). Evaluating the Ability to Use Contextual Features to Map Deprived Areas 'Slums' in Multiple Cities. In IGARSS 2023 - 2023 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Proceedings (pp. 3620-3623). (International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS); Vol. 2023-July). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS52108.2023.10282954
Kuffer, M., Ali, I. M. M., Gummah, A. , Da Silva Mano, A., Sakhi, W., Kushieb, I. , Girgin, S., Eltiny, N., Kumi, J., Abdallah, M., Bad, M., Ahmed, F., Hamza, M. , Wang, J., Elzaki, T. , Gevaert, C., & Flasse, C. (2023). IDeaMapSudan: Geo-spatial modelling of urban poverty. In 2023 Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event (JURSE) (pp. 1-4). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/JURSE57346.2023.10144211
Abascal, A., Kyba, C., Hölker, F. , Kuffer, M., Arroyo, H. L., Walczak, K., De Miguel, A. S., Degen, T., & Roman, M. O. (2023). Mapping the Invisibles: Global urban inequalities through night lights. In 2023 Joint Urban Remote Sensing Event (JURSE) (pp. 1-4). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/JURSE57346.2023.10144207
Kuffer, M. , Abascal, A., Vanhuysse, S., Georganos, S. , Wang, J. , Thomson, D. R., Boanada, A., & Roca, P. (2023). Data and urban poverty: Detecting and characterising slums and deprived urban areas in low- and middle-income countries. In S. Mustak, D. Singh, & P. K. Srivastava (Eds.), Advanced Remote Sensing for Urban and Landscape Ecology (Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3006-7_1
Wang, J., Fleischmann, M., Venerandi, A., Romice, O. , Kuffer, M., & Porta, S. (2023). EO + Morphometrics: Understanding cities through urban morphology at large scale. Landscape and urban planning, 233, Article 104691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2023.104691
Eltinay, N. , Kuffer, M. , Gevaert, C. M., Ali, I. M. M., Flasse, C., Badi, M., Gummah, A., Kumi, J., Kushieb, I., Sakhi, W., Elzaki, T., Abdallah, M., Ali, M., Hamza, M., & Ahmed, F. (2022). Integrated deprivation area mapping system for displacement durable solutions and socio-economic reconstruction, Sudan (IdeaMapSudan). In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Appropriate Technology: Enhancing Peace and Governance through Appropriate Technology: Reimagining Sustainable Community Wellbeing in an Era of Global Climate Change (pp. 461-474). International Network on Appropriate Technology. https://www.appropriatetech.net/index.php/10th-icat-2022
Kumalasari, D. , Koeva, M. N. , Vahdatikhaki, F., Petrova-Antonova, D. , & Kuffer, M. (2022). Generative design for walkable cities: A case study of Sofia. In C. C. Wang, & S. Shirowzhan (Eds.), International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences: 7th International Conference on Smart Data and Smart Cities (4/W5-2022 ed., Vol. 48, pp. 75-82). (International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives). Copernicus. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLVIII-4-W5-2022-75-2022
Georganos, S., Hafner, S. , Kuffer, M., Linard, C., & Ban, Y. (2022). A census from heaven: Unraveling the potential of deep learning and Earth Observation for intra-urban population mapping in data scarce environments. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 114, Article 103013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2022.103013
Wang, J., Fleischmann, M., Venerandi, A. , Kuffer, M., & Porta, S. (2022). Earth observation + morphometrics: towards a systematic understanding of cities in challenging contexts. In Annual Conference Proceedings of the XXVIII International Seminar on Urban Form (pp. 363-370). University of Strathclyde. https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/80476/
Wang, J., Georganos, S. , Kuffer, M. , Abascal, A., & Vanhuysse, S. (2022). On the knowledge gain of urban morphology from space. Computers, environment and urban systems, 95, Article 101831. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2022.101831

UT Research Information System

Google Scholar Link

Courses Academic Year  2023/2024

Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
 

Courses Academic Year  2022/2023

Projects

Ongoing research projects on Earth Observation and mapping deprived urban areas: 

The IDEAMAPS Network is developing and maintaining an Integrated DEprived Area MAPping System (IDEAMAPS) that leverages the strengths of our current silo-ed approaches to “slum” area mapping.
More info: https://ideamapsnetwork.org/

ACCOUNT (Accounting for the unaccounted) is developing a machine-learning based framework for estimating the population of invisible spaces in support of the SDG Slum Indicator.
More info: https://slummap.net/index.php/account/ 

The SLUMAP project (Remote Sensing for SluMapping and Characterization in sub-Saharan African Cities) is a two-year research project (2019-2021) funded by the STEREO-III programme of the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO).
More info: http://slumap.ulb.be/ 

IDEAMAPSUDAN (Integrated Deprivation Area Mapping System for Displacement Durable Solutions and socioeconomic reconstruction in Khartoum, Sudan) is implementing a training project in Sudan on Capacity strengthening for gender-responsive and sustainable urban development.
More info: https://slummap.net/index.php/projects-overview/ 

Contact Details

Visiting Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation
Langezijds (building no. 19), room 1301
Hallenweg 8
7522NH  Enschede
The Netherlands

Mailing Address

University of Twente
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation
Langezijds  1301
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
The Netherlands

Additional Contact Information

Social Media