Analysis of urban expansion and land use changes in Akure, Nigeria, using remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) techniques

Abstract

Akure has since it became the administrative headquarters of Ondo State in 1976 been witnessing rapid developmental changes in terms of physical landscape, city growth and urban sprawl. These agents of landuse  landcover changes are capable of creating environmental and climatic problems. In view of this,We fulti temporal remote sensing data and geographic information system (GIS) techniques with field survey were used to detect the land use and land cover change in Akure (Lat: 7.25 °N; Lon: 5.20 °E), a south-western city in Nigeria between 1986 and 2007. The main objective using this approach is to examine the landuse landcover changes (LULCC) in Akure at different epochs in order to detect the changes that have occurred and subsequently project the likely changes that might occur over a given period. We found changes in land use and land cover of Akure through our different classification scheme (arable land, bare-surface land, built-up/settlement, dense forest and water bodies with a percentage change of 11.24, -5.86, 28.36, -33.87 and 0.13, respectively between 1986 and 2007). Results further revealed through projection that change by 2020 may likely follow the trend observed between 1986/2007.   Keywords: Urban expansion, land use, remote sensing, geographic information system (GIS), Akure.