This Atlas presents data on the five major city regions as well as 28 strategic district municipalities in Afghanistan. The Atlas is a continuation of The State of Afghan Cities 2015 which presented data on Afghanistan’s 34 Provincial Capital Cities. Following the same methodology as the State of Afghan Cities, the land-use and dwelling data in this Atlas has been extracted using recent and high-resolution satellite images. The methodology is innovative, reliable and cost-effective, and in combination with field checks and city workshops, ensures accurate data collection while also engaging local stakeholders and building human and institutional capacities for improved urban data monitoring and use.

Overall, the atlas demonstrates the need to address the perceived dichotomy between Afghan cities and their surrounding peri-urban areas. Its detailed mapping of five city regions shows extensive inter-linkages between cities and their peri-urban areas. This information will help inform urban planning and policy to bolster economic development, expand social services and improve infrastructure networks in city regions. Further, the mapping of district municipalities reinforces the relative importance of many strategic district municipalities compared with provincial municipalities. This finding warrants further consideration of the spatial structure of human settlements in Afghanistan, notably the secondary and tertiary cities, in order to secure regionally balanced spatial population growth and appropriate policy and governance frameworks on a decentralized level.

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