Spatio-temporal analysis of land use and land cover in the national capital region of India

Abstract

One of the most important methods for managing and monitoring the progress of natural resources is the examination of changes in land use and land cover. Urbanization is the main cause of these modifications. Cities with a dense population are more likely to see these kinds of shifts. The national capital of India, Delhi, was chosen as the study region for the current investigation. This article used Landsat 8 data for 2014 and Landsat 9 data for 2023 to map the changes. For both datasets, five classes were selected: vegetation, built-up, scrubland, water body, and agriculture. For the classification purpose maximum likelihood algorithm was used, and the outcome was reported to be 86% (kappa 0.82) for 2014 and 90% (kappa 0.87) for 2023 in terms of accuracy. The change detection indicated that there is a rise in built-up land cover (+3.80) as well as in natural vegetation (+5.49), while a decline in scrubland (-1.51) and agricultural areas (-7.91) was detected. In summation, information on urban growth, land use, and land cover change studies is crucial for local government and urban planners to construct long-term strategies for the city’s sustainable growth.