City Segments Layer v1

The City Segments Layer v1 is a geospatial dataset identifying sub-city areas with high building density and low road connectivity, serving as a proxy for neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES). Available for 5,218 urban centers across 107 low- and middle-income countries, it enables spatial analysis of urban vulnerabilities. City segment boundaries align with navigable roads and water features, ensuring relevance for fieldwork applications. Each segment has a minimum estimated population of 400 people to produce units similar to census enumeration areas. The dataset integrates multiple open geospatial sources: Global Human Settlement Layer Urban Center Database (GHS-UCDB, 2019) for city boundaries, OpenStreetMap (OSM) via Global Urban Street Networks (GUSN) for roads, OSM via GeoFabrik for water features, and Overture Maps for building footprints. Urban areas are segmented through a multi-step geoprocessing workflow. Major zones are first defined by primary roads, waterways, and city boundaries. Within these, city segments are created using secondary roads and smaller waterways. Voronoi diagrams from building centroids support fine-scale urban morphology analysis, including road access and parcel size variation. This dataset provides a standardized framework for analyzing area-level urban deprivations and assets, and has potential to support local-to-international development indicator monitoring, policymakers, researchers, and field practitioners upon further validation.