Characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (1984–2022)
Urbanisation is a global trend that significantly impacts sustainable urban development and the quality of urban life. Assessing urban sprawl is critical for sustainable urban planning and aligns with the key objectives of the United Nations sustainable development goals. This study employed geospat...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Heliyon |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024033061 |
| _version_ | 1827294068048134144 |
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| author | Shelton Mthunzi Sithole Walter Musakwa James Magidi Alain Y. Kibangou |
| author_facet | Shelton Mthunzi Sithole Walter Musakwa James Magidi Alain Y. Kibangou |
| author_sort | Shelton Mthunzi Sithole |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Urbanisation is a global trend that significantly impacts sustainable urban development and the quality of urban life. Assessing urban sprawl is critical for sustainable urban planning and aligns with the key objectives of the United Nations sustainable development goals. This study employed geospatial technology and landscape metrics to comprehensively assess, map, and quantify the extent of urban sprawl in Bulawayo from 1984 to 2022. The study leveraged the Support Vector Machine (SVM) supervised machine learning algorithm coupled with landscape metrics to achieve this objective. The combined approach allowed for the classification, detection of land cover changes, analysis of urban dynamics, and quantification of the degree of urban sprawl. The results revealed a 228% increase in built-up areas between 1984 and 2022, while non-built-up areas (agricultural land, vegetation, bare land) decreased by 29.28%. The landscape metrics and change analysis indicated an encroachment of urban-like conditions into urban areas. Land use change assessment revealed that Bulawayo exhibits four district types of urban sprawl: leapfrog, strip/ribbon, low density, and infill. Urban expansion is attributed to urbanisation and evolving land use policy. Urban sprawl has numerous urban planning implications on transport management, habitat loss and deforestation, reduction and contamination of freshwater sources, and many others. This study is strategic to planners, researchers, and decision-makers/policy makers as it provides relevant, up-to-date, and accurate information for sustainable urban planning. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:50:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0bb9c0121f4f4aecaf43fecd6319a9a6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T13:50:02Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj.art-0bb9c0121f4f4aecaf43fecd6319a9a62024-04-04T05:04:31ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402024-03-01106e27275Characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (1984–2022)Shelton Mthunzi Sithole0Walter Musakwa1James Magidi2Alain Y. Kibangou3Dept. of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Auckland Park Campus, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa; Corresponding author.Dept. of Geography, Environmental Management & Energy Studies, Faculty of Science, Auckland Park Campus, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South AfricaGeomatics Department, Tshwane University of Technology, Staatsartillerie Road, Pretoria, Gauteng, South AfricaGIPSA-Lab department of Automatic Control-DANCE team, Universite Grenoble Alpes, France; Dept. of Geography, Environmental Management & Energy Studies, Faculty of Science, Auckland Park Campus, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South AfricaUrbanisation is a global trend that significantly impacts sustainable urban development and the quality of urban life. Assessing urban sprawl is critical for sustainable urban planning and aligns with the key objectives of the United Nations sustainable development goals. This study employed geospatial technology and landscape metrics to comprehensively assess, map, and quantify the extent of urban sprawl in Bulawayo from 1984 to 2022. The study leveraged the Support Vector Machine (SVM) supervised machine learning algorithm coupled with landscape metrics to achieve this objective. The combined approach allowed for the classification, detection of land cover changes, analysis of urban dynamics, and quantification of the degree of urban sprawl. The results revealed a 228% increase in built-up areas between 1984 and 2022, while non-built-up areas (agricultural land, vegetation, bare land) decreased by 29.28%. The landscape metrics and change analysis indicated an encroachment of urban-like conditions into urban areas. Land use change assessment revealed that Bulawayo exhibits four district types of urban sprawl: leapfrog, strip/ribbon, low density, and infill. Urban expansion is attributed to urbanisation and evolving land use policy. Urban sprawl has numerous urban planning implications on transport management, habitat loss and deforestation, reduction and contamination of freshwater sources, and many others. This study is strategic to planners, researchers, and decision-makers/policy makers as it provides relevant, up-to-date, and accurate information for sustainable urban planning.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024033061Urban sprawlLand cover changesGeospatial technologySupport vector machineLandscape metricsBulawayo |
| spellingShingle | Shelton Mthunzi Sithole Walter Musakwa James Magidi Alain Y. Kibangou Characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (1984–2022) Heliyon Urban sprawl Land cover changes Geospatial technology Support vector machine Landscape metrics Bulawayo |
| title | Characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (1984–2022) |
| title_full | Characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (1984–2022) |
| title_fullStr | Characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (1984–2022) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (1984–2022) |
| title_short | Characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (1984–2022) |
| title_sort | characterising landcover changes and urban sprawl using geospatial techniques and landscape metrics in bulawayo zimbabwe 1984 2022 |
| topic | Urban sprawl Land cover changes Geospatial technology Support vector machine Landscape metrics Bulawayo |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844024033061 |
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