Iskakov (2026) Data for: The Environmental Cost of Rapid Urbanization: Residential Construction and Lake Depletion in Astana, Kazakhstan

Identification

• Journal: Mendeley Data
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-01-14
• Authors: Serik Iskakov
• DOI: 10.17632/5hbrh7vrhn.1

Research Groups

Serik Iskakov (Contributor)

Short Summary

This study investigates whether rapid urbanization in Astana, Kazakhstan, specifically residential construction, contributed to the depletion of Bolshoy Taldykol Lake. The analysis reveals a 70% reduction in the lake's surface area between 2017 and 2024, coinciding with a construction boom, supporting the hypothesis that urbanization pressure correlates with lake depletion.

Objective

• To test whether rapid urbanization in Astana, Kazakhstan, contributed to Bolshoy Taldykol Lake depletion through groundwater extraction and land use changes, hypothesizing that increased construction activity correlates with decreased lake surface area when controlling for climatic variables.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Bolshoy Taldykol Lake, Astana, Kazakhstan, including a 500 m buffer around the lake. Satellite imagery processed at 30 m resolution.
• Temporal Scale:
  • Lake surface area: Annual summer composites (June-September) for 2015, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2024.
  • Residential construction data: Monthly from January 2015 to December 2024.
  • Weather data: Monthly from March 2001 to December 2024.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) for water body detection.
• Data sources:
  • Lake surface area: Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 imagery (Collection 2 Level-2 surface reflectance) processed using Google Earth Engine.
  • Residential construction: Monthly "Total area of commissioned residential buildings" from the Bureau of National Statistics Kazakhstan.
  • Weather data: Monthly maximum, average, and minimum temperatures, dew point, precipitation sum, snow depth sum, wind, gust wind, and sea level pressure from Weather Underground (Astana/UACC station) via Selenium scraper.

Main Results

• Bolshoy Taldykol Lake experienced a significant 70% reduction in surface area from its 2017 peak of 0.856 square kilometres to 0.260 square kilometres in 2024.
• This observed lake depletion coincided with a period of rapid residential construction in Astana.

Contributions

• Provides empirical evidence and a dataset linking rapid urbanization (residential construction) to lake depletion in a Central Asian context, controlling for climatic variables.
• Offers a methodology for environmental impact assessment, urban planning, water management, climate adaptation, and sustainable development, particularly relevant for transitional economies.

Funding

No funding information was provided in the paper text.

Citation

@article{Iskakov2026Data,
  author = {Iskakov, Serik},
  title = {Data for: The Environmental Cost of Rapid Urbanization: Residential Construction and Lake Depletion in Astana, Kazakhstan},
  journal = {Mendeley Data},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.17632/5hbrh7vrhn.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.17632/5hbrh7vrhn.1}
}