Exploring the Nexus Between Urban Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) Changes and Urban Growth Analysis Using Geoinformatics in Tumkur City, India

For the past several decades, Tumkur has been one of the fastest-developing cities in Karnataka. Hence, an assessment concerning the identification of LULC mutations and their intensity and urban sprawl in Tumkur City has been employed using cutting-edge Geospatial techniques. In this study, multi-temporal satellite imagery such as Landsat 5 (2000), Resourcesat-1 (2005, 2009 & 2012), and Sentinel-2A (2015 & 2020) were utilized to monitor historical LULC changes, land transformation, direction of urban growth and sprawl. The outcome of the change detection demonstrates that between 2000 and 2020, the built-up area expanded significantly, from 24.94 km2 to 60.59 km2. Consequently, the land transformation matrix analysis shows that substantial modifications in LULC have occurred over the period, with a rise in built-up areas and plantations and a decline in agricultural land, water bodies, and scrubland. Further, urban expansion analysis using UEII (Urban Expansion Intensity Index) revealed that most of the area is in the fast-paced stage of urban expansion. Moreover, two well-known indices; the Annual Urban Spatial Expansion Index (AUSEI) and the Annual Built-up Change Index (ABCI), show a significant positive correlation between them (R2 = 0.69) justifying the increased urban growth in the study area. Whereas, built-up density and the Annual Urban Spatial Expansion Index (AUSEI) show a negative correlation (R2 = 0.55) indicating the presence of compactness of the core of the city. Apart from the above analysis, urban sprawl was effectively interpreted using zones formed using Shannon entropy; NNE, ESE, and SSW have high urban sprawl due to National Highways, growth of Industries, and infrastructure activities developed by the government. Further, the present study’s findings will contribute to understanding land use dynamics, urban sprawl, urban growth analysis, and future projections, as well as provide crucial information for decision-making and urban planning processes, to the urban planner to support acceptable land use management and guiding plan for appropriate growth of urban areas.