John Radke

Geographic Information Systems; database design and construction; spatial analysis; pattern recognition; computational morphology; environmental assessment; landscape characterization; potential modeling.

Professor Radke’s research interests are in the design and development of analytical methods embedded in geographic information science (GIS). These interests include the development of metrics that assist scientists and professionals in recognizing spatial structure and change in complex landscapes. These metrics advance our ability to classify and make sense of data generated by sophisticated sensors that record and map spatial distributions of phenomena beyond human comprehension. Processing and characterizing the morphology of landscapes in these data rich environments aids regional and environmental planners in their quest to construct and apply spatial interaction models to real world problems, such as: assessing potential fire risk in the wild-land urban interface; assessing environmental risk in highly erodible landscapes; measuring and predicting landscape hazards; integrating multivariate spatial models to recognize patterns between natural and social interaction; improving spatial search engines; applying deep learning models to characterize landscape features; and improving our ability to respond and mitigate human disasters.

In the College of Environmental Design we analyze, design and then communicate our findings to society. Professor Ian McHarg (PENN) and others captured the attention of the public not with a catch phrase such as; design with nature, but with logical methods that assembled data and mapped patterns between nature and humans. Today the application of their methods appears insignificant and flawed, but they did provide the motivation behind the development of GIS. With GIS we can better model and map relationships between natural and social factors.

I believe in exposing students to new technology, but not at the risk of them becoming trained to just point-and-click.

John Radke retired from the College of Environmental Design faculty in 2023. A founding member of the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, he conducts research in the design and development of analytical methods that assist in recognizing spatial structure, measure changes in complex landscapes, and assess exposure from future climate change conditions. He advances and integrates high-resolution spatial data within data-rich multivariate models to predict the impact on and consequences of chronic exposure of infrastructure in human habitat over vast geographic regions. Simply put, he brings science to Planning and Design.

Professor Radke’s research interests are in spatial analysis, spatial association and the recognition of patterns to expand our understanding of environmental impact in support of environmental landscape planning. He models (quantifies) and predicts environmental degradation, predicts the consequences of infrastructure failure, and proposes mitigation strategies. He advances and integrates high-resolution (large scale) spatial data within multivariate models while addressing environmental issues (problems). This has lead to data-rich models, as well as big-data modeling in an attempt to understand future climate change conditions at a back yard scale over vast regions, such as the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta or the entire coast of California.

Advances in remote sensing and digital data gathering make it possible to build very large and rich data bases. This inundation of data has left researchers and practitioners with pattern recognition challenges never before realized, they are often faced with seeing through a glass, darkly. Not only are our human sensor skills strained, and in some instances neutralized, we currently face unparalleled algorithmic challenges in detecting patterns and trends in complex large and data rich environments. Employing spatial metrics and building multivariate models is key in articulating more intelligent questions about underlying process. Radke advances the modeling process with data rich environments including many independent variables, those that are spatial, and those that could be generated through sophisticated 3D modeling. These models include high resolution data, decomposition algorithms, multiple independent variables that also included spatial location, spatial orientation and spatial association. Radke applies these models in defense of global climate change impacts where sea level rise (SLR) associated with extreme storm events and increased wildland-urban interface firestorms increase the failure of infrastructure. The results of these research help city, regional and environmental planners measure and model real world problems.

Radke was a founding member of the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management (CCRM) (http://ccrm.berkeley.edu/faculty.shtml), a UC Berkeley group of academic researchers and practitioners who recognize the need for interdisciplinary solutions to avoid and mitigate tragic events. Radke also directed the campus GIS Center 1996-2008. Professor Radke is currently exploring the impact of global warming and climate change on California’s infrastructure through the California Vulnerability and Adaptation Study project.

Radke was a Co-Principal Investigator on the interdisciplinary team project RESIN: Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure Networks project. RESIN’s mandate is to create, validate, and apply new Risk Assessment and Management (RAM) based approaches to facilitate a better evaluation and management of resilience and sustainability in interdependent, interconnected, interactive critical infrastructure systems (I3CIS). They incorporate and integrate complementary ideas from the social, political, and legal sciences.

Radke was a Principal, and Co-Principal Investigator on several California Energy Commission grants looking into the impacts of Climate Change on several of California’s critical infrastructure systems (Transportation, Gas and Transportation Fuels).

LD ARCH 132 Computer Applications for Environmental Design

LD ARCH 188/GEOG 188 Geographic Information Systems

LD ARCH 221 Quantitative Methods In Environmental Planning

LD ARCH 254/GEOG 175 Tools, tips and tricks: pushing analytical thought in GIS

LD ARCH 254 Computational Skill Boot Camp

LD ARCH 255 Doctoral Seminar In Environmental Planning

CY PLAN 204C Introduction to GIS in City Planning

CY PLAN 255 Urban Planning Applications of Geographic Information Systems

CY PLAN 290G/LD ARCH 254 Geographic Information Modeling in Support of Catastrophic Risk Management for Critical Infrastructures in the Sacramento Delta

Garcia-Ayllon, S.; Radke, J. Diffuse Anthropization Impacts in Vulnerable Protected Areas: Comparative Analysis of the Spatial Correlation between Land Transformation and Ecological Deterioration of Three Wetlands in Spain. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2021, 10, 630. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10090630

He, Y.; Lindbergh, S.; Ju, Y.; Gonzalez, M.; Radke, J. Towards Resilient Critical Infrastructures: Understanding the Impact of Coastal Flooding on the Fuel Transportation Network in the San Francisco Bay. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2021, 10, 573. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi10090573

Lindbergh S., Radke J. (2021) Rethinking Infrastructure Network Criticality for Climate Resilience: Inputs from Complexity Sciences and Disaster Risk Theory. In: Djalante R., Bisri M.B.F., Shaw R. (eds) Integrated Research on Disaster Risks. Disaster Risk Reduction (Methods, Approaches and Practices). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55563-4_18

Garcia-Ayllon,S.; Radke,J. Geostatistical Analysis of the Spatial Correlation between Territorial Anthropization and Flooding Vulnerability: Application to the DANA Phenomenon in a Mediterranean Watershed. Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 809. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11020809

Johnny Douvinet, Anna Serra-Llobet, John Radke & Matthias Kondolf (2020) The 2018 Montecito post-fire mudflows: an (im)foreseeable event?, La Houille Blanche, 106:6, 25-35, DOI: 10.1051/lhb/2020052

Radke, D.; Radke, D.; Radke, J. Beyond Measurement: Extracting Vegetation Height from High Resolution Imagery with Deep Learning. Remote Sens. 2020, 12, 3797.- https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/22/3797

Moanga, D., Biging G., Radke J., Butsic V. 2020. “The space–time cube as an approach to quantifying future wildfires in California”. International Journal of Wildland Fire , - https://doi.org/10.1071/WF19062.

Chen T, Radke JD, Lang W, Li X. Environment resilience and public health: Assessing healthcare's vulnerability to climate change in the San Francisco Bay Area. Growth and Change. 2020;51:607–625. https://doi.org/10.1111/grow.12379

Donadio,C., Paliaga, G., Radke, J. (2019) Tsunamis and rapid coastal remodeling as a relation between energy and fractal dimension. Progress in Physical Geography.

Ju, Y, Lindbergh, S., He, Y., and Radke, J. (2019). Climate-related uncertainties in urban exposure to sea level rise and storm surge flooding: a multi-temporal and multi-scenario analysis. Cities. 92. 230-246. 10.1016/j.cities.2019.04.002.

Radke, J.D, G.S. Biging, K. Roberts, M. Schmidt-Poolman, H. Foster, E. Roe, Y. Ju, S. Lindbergh, T. Beach, L. Maier, Y. He, M. Ashenfarb, P. Norton, M. Wray, A. Alruheili, S. Yi, R. Rau, J. Collins, D. Radke, M. Coufal, S. Marx, A. Gohar, D. Moanga, V. Ulyashin, A. Dalal. (University of California, Berkeley) 2018. Assessing Extreme Weather-Related Vulnerability and Identifying Resilience Options for California’s Interdependent Transportation Fuel Sector. California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, California, Energy Commission. Publication Number: CCCA4-CEC-2018-012.

Ju, Y., Hsu, W.C., Radke, J. D., Fourt, W., Lang, W., Hoes, O., Foster, H., Biging,G.S., Schmidt-Poolman, M., Neuhausler,R.,, Alruheili,A., and Maier,W. (2017). Planning for the change: mapping sea level rise and storm inundation in Sherman Island using 3Di hydrodynamic model and LiDAR. In Seeing Cities Through Big Data, P. (Vonu) Thakuriah, N. Tilahun, & M. Zellner (Eds.), Springer International Publishing, pp. 313-329.

Radke, J. D., G. S. Biging, M. Schmidt-Poolman, H. Foster, E. Roe, Y. Ju, O. Hoes, T. Beach, A. Alruheil, L. Meier, W. Hsu, R. Neuhausler, W. Lang (). (2017). Model/Tool: CalFloD-3D – Data published on Cal-Adapt, http://cal-adapt.org/.

Radke, J. D., G. S. Biging, M. Schmidt-Poolman, H. Foster, E. Roe, Y. Ju, O. Hoes, T. Beach, A. Alruheil, L. Meier, W. Hsu, R. Neuhausler, W. Lang (University of California, Berkeley). (2017). Assessment of Bay Area Natural Gas Pipeline Vulnerability to Climate change. California Energy Commission. Publication number: CEC-500-2017-008.

Yekang Ko, Kitae Jang, and John D. Radke (2017). Toward a solar city: Trade-o s between on-site solar energy potential and vehicle energy consumption in San Francisco, California, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation (11) pp. 460-470.

W. Lang, J.D. Radke, T. Chen, E.H.W. Chan (2016). Will affordability policy transcend climate change? A new lens to re-examine equitable access to healthcare in the San Francisco Bay Area. Cities. (58) pp. 124–136.

Y. Zhao, D. Feng, L. Yu, X. Wang, Y. Chen, Y. Baia, H.J. Hernández, M. Galleguillos, C. Estades, G.S. Biging, J.D. Radke, P. Gong. (2016). Detailed dynamic land cover mapping of Chile: Accuracy improvement by integrating multi-temporal data. Remote Sensing of Environment. (183), 2016, pp. 170–185.

Roe, E., Bea, R.G., Jonkman, S.N., Corn, H.F.D., Foster, H., Radke, J., Schulman, P. and Storesund, R., (2016). Risk assessment and management for interconnected critical infrastructure systems at the site and regional levels in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, 12(1-2), pp.143-174.

Ju, Y., & Radke, J.D. (2015). Mapping sea level rise and storm inundation by 3di hydrodynamic model in the San Francisco Bay Area and its implications for future planning and design. In Landscape Research Record No.4 (pp. 211–222).

Foster, H. and J. Radke (2015). Coping with Delta Floods and Protecting California’s Water Supply in a Regional Flood Management System. In Sustainable Water: Challenges and Solutions from California. Lassiter, A. editor.  University of California Press.

Ko, Y., & Radke, J. D. (2014). The effect of urban form and residential cooling energy use in Sacramento, California. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 41(4), 573 – 593.

Lee, J. H., G. S. Biging, J. Radke and J. Fisher. (2013). An improved topographic mapping technique from airborne LiDAR: Application in a forested hillside. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 34(20): 7293-7311

Radke, J. (2013) “Fire and firestorms” in Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards, Peter T. Bobrowsky (ed.), DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Biging, Greg S., John D. Radke, Jun Hak Lee (University of California Davis). (2012). Impacts of Predicted Sea-Level Rise and Extreme Storm Events on the Transportation Infrastructure in the San Francisco Bay Region. California Energy Commission. Publication number: CEC-500-2012-040.

Li, W., and Radke, J.D. (2012). Geospatial data integration and modeling for the investigation of urban neighborhood crime. Annals of GIS 18(3): 185-205

Li W, Radke J, Liu D, Gong P, 2012. Measuring detailed urban vegetation with multisource high-resolution remote sensing imagery for environmental design and planning. Environment and

Gale, S., Magzamen, S., Tager, I., Radke, J. (2011) “Crime, neighborhood deprivation, and asthma: a GIS approach to define and assess neighborhoods”, Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology, v2 pp 59-67.

Lan, M., and Radke, J. (2009) “A weighted difference barrier method in landscape genetics”, Journal of Geographical Systems, vol. 11, issue 2, pp 141-154.

Frontiera, P., Larson, R., and Radke, J. (2008) “A comparison of geometric approaches to assessing spatial similarity for GIR”, International Journal of Geographical Information Science Vol. 22, No. 3, 337–360.

Forghani, A., Cechet, B., Radke, J., Finney, M. and Butler, B. (2007). “Applying fire spread simulation over two study sites in California lessons learned and future plans”,  Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2007. IGARSS 2007. IEEE International pp. 3008 – 3013.

Radke, J. (2007). “Modeling Fire In The Wildland–Urban Interface: Directions For Planning” in Living on the Edge: Economic, Institutional and Management Perspectives on Wildfire Hazard in the Urban Interface. A. Troy and R. Kennedy, editors, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers.

Kondolf, G.M., J. Radke, and I. Ismail (2005). “Mitigating risks to coral reefs from land derived contaminants: results of studies in the Caribbean and applications to wadi flooding on the Egyptian Red Sea coast,” with,  Proceedings of the PERSGA Sea to Sea Second Regional Forum, Cairo, February (2005).

Zhou, De-min & Radke, John & Tian, Yong & Xu, Jian-chun & Mu, Lan. (2004) “A model supported by GIS for locating and quantifying PM2.5 emission originated from residential wood burning,” ,  Journal of Environmental Scienses-China 17 (5): 861-865. (Peer-reviewed Journal Paper)

Zhou, De-min & Xu, Jian-chun & Radke, John & Mu, Lan. (2004) A Spatial Cluster Method Supported by GIS for Urban-Suburban-Rural Classification”, Chinese Geographical Science, 14(4), 337-342. (2004).

Tian, Yong & Radke, John & Gong, Peng & Yu, Qian. (2004) “Model Development for Spatial Variation of PM2.5 Emissions from residential Wood Burning”, Atmospheric Environment, 38(6):833-843. (2004).

Radke, J. D., Lan, M., (2000). "Spatial Decompositions, Modeling And Mapping Service Regions To Predict Access To Social Programs", with MuLan, Geographic Information Sciences, Vol.6, No.2, pp105-112.

Radke, J. D., Cova, T., Sheridan,M.F., Troy, A., Lan, M., and Johnson, R.  (2000). "Application Challenges for GIScience: Implications for Research Education, and Policy for Risk Assessment, Emergency Preparedness and Response (RAEPR)" With URISA Journal, Vol 12, No. 2.

Radke, J. D.,  Flodmark, A. (1999). “The Use of Spatial Decompositions for Constructing Street Centerlines” with A. in Geographic Information Sciences, Vol.5, No.1, pp15-23.

Radke, J. D., (1998). “Boundary Generators for the 21st Century: A Proximity Based Classification Method” Department of City and Regional Planning 50th Anniversary.

Radke, J. D., (1997). “Detecting Potential Erosion Threats to the Coastal Zone: St. John, USVI" ” International Journal of Marine Geodesy, Vol 20, pp 235-254.

Radke, J. (1995). “Modeling Urban/Wildland Interface Fire Hazards within a Geographic Information System” in Geographic Information Sciences.Vol.1, No.1, pp7-20.

Radke, J. D., (1988). "On the shape of a set of points", in Computational Morphology, G.T. Toussaint, editor.

Rojas, E., Wirtshafter, R.M., Radke, J.D., Hosier, R. (1988). "Land Conservation in Small Developing Countries: Computer Assisted Studies in Saint Lucia" AMBIO, Vol 17 No 4, 1988.

Kirkpatrick, D.G. and  Radke, J. D., (1984). "A framework for computational morphology", Computational Geometry. G.T. Toussaint, editor.