The results presented here indicate that application of the weekly vegetation photosynthesis product from MODIS in conjunction with the night time DMSP-- OLS data can be used as an effective tool to compare the impact of human settlements on vegetation productivity. The nighttime lights offer the advantage of higher spatial accuracy than the traditional censuses, offering also the possibility to account not only demographic growth but also changes in land use, as they reflect the spatial extent of built material. Repeated use of this methodology can be used as an effective tool for regional monitoring of urban sprawl and its impact on environment. The methodology is easily implemented since it relies only on remote sensing data. Even though this methodology is no substitute for ground monitoring and field analysis, its scale of applicability makes it particularly interesting for regional planning purposes and to increase public and political perception of the problems connected with unregulated development.