Impact of Urbanization Processes on Vegetation Cover in the Cities Over the Last Two Decades

Abstract

Background: The process of urbanization serves as a prominent factor leading to the vegetation cover decline in major cities worldwide. This issue has significant consequences for the living environment on a global scale. Methods: Leveraging the latest advancements in remote sensing techniques (RSTs) and utilizing high-resolution satellite imagery, this study aims to assess the vegetation cover alteration (VCA) in correlation with the urbanization process in Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam. Landsat 5 TM and Sentinel 2A satellite imagery were used to analyze the VCA in Thai Nguyen City during the period from 2001 to 2023. Thai Nguyen city is recognized as the third largest in Northern Vietnam, following the capital city of Hanoi and Hai Phong City and ranks as the tenth most populous city in Vietnam. Result: The results obtained from this study demonstrate a substantial overall expansion, with the total urban land increasing from 386 hectares in 2001 to 1045 hectares in 2010 and experiencing a rapid surge in 2023, reaching a remarkable 4409 hectares. In general, analyzed results based on VCA maps indicated an overall vegetation cover reduction across the study area. This indicates that the study area has reached a critically high level of degradation in terms of vegetation cover. These findings emphasize the escalating risks associated with the diminishing vegetation cover detected across the study area.