Systems and methods for implementing a superpixel boosted top-down image recognition framework are provided. The framework utilizes superpixels comprising contiguous pixel regions sharing similar characteristics. Feature extraction methods described herein provide non-redundant image feature vectors for classification model building. The provided framework differentiates a digitized image into a plurality of superpixels. The digitized image is characterized through image feature extraction methods based on the plurality of superpixels. Image classification models are generated from the extracted image features and ground truth labels and may then be used to classify other digitized images.