Impact of urbanization on land use/land covers change using Geo-spatial techniques

Urbanization is the method of urban areas growth, which result in population growth, increase of built-up area, high density of population and it also psychological stage of urban way of life. Uncontrolled momentum of urbanization and land use/ land cover change raises many issues which might have both positive and negative impacts like unauthorized urban sprawl, loss of agricultural land, high land values and other related problems. The monitoring of urbanization is vital role of planner, management, governmental and non-governmental organizations for implementing policies to optimize the use of natural resources and accommodate development at the same time minimizing the impact on the environment. The present research work aims to analyzing the changes that occurred in land use /land cover (LU/LC) over a time span of last four decades using modern technology like remote sensing and Geographical Information System. The geographical extend of Pune city is 243.84 km². It consists of 14 administrative wards with the total population of 3.11 million (Census, 2011). The spatio-temporal study of land use /land cover is carried out for 4 decades 1973 to 2011 using remotely sensed data like Landsat MSS (1973), TM (1992), ETM+ (2001) and TM (2011). Utilizing hybrid classification method for interpretation and on-field validation, it has been found that the built-up area of Pune city increased 1973 to 2011 by 43.43 percent from 28.50 km² to 155.99 km². Also, the areas under vegetation, water bodies, agriculture land and fallow land have been decreased.