Assessment of Sustainable Urban Expansion with Land Use and Land Cover Changes for Al-Hillah City Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Abstract

In the current study, remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems were used to detect changes in land use / land cover (LULC) in the city of Al Hillah, central Iraq for the period from 1990 - 2022. Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 8 OLI visualizations, correction and georeferencing of satellite visuals were used. And then make the necessary classifications to show the changes in LULC in the city of Al Hillah. Through the study, the results showed that there is a clear expansion in the urban area from 20.5 km2 in 1990 to about 57 km2 in 2022. On the other hand, the results showed that there is a slight increase in agricultural areas and water. While the arid (empty) area decreased from 168.7 km 2 to 122 km 2 in 2022. Long-term urban planning, which is based on LULC analysis, is an effective tool for decision makers to study future patterns in urban expansion in parallel with the expected rise of the population in Iraq in the coming years. . Therefore, it is necessary to use equivalent systematic plans to take into account the theory of urban and population expansion of cities by providing the best places for the population to be concentrated in appropriate ways in the future.