2020 International Conference on Contemporary Computing and Applications (IC3A)
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University, Lucknow. Feb 05-07, 2020
Assessment of Land Use/Land Cover Changes of
potential growing fringe areas of Lucknow Using
Remote Sensing and GIS
2020 International Conference on Contemporary Computing and Applications (IC3A) 978-1-7281-5432-9/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE 10.1109/IC3A48958.2020.233308
Ashwani Kumar Rawat
Faculty of Architecture and Planning,
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University
Lucknow, India
ashwani.7309@gmail.com
Abstract— Changes in land use / land cover (LU / LC) were
determined by using Geographical Information Systems (GISs)
and remote sensing technology in an urban area, Lucknow,
from 1999 to 2019. Based on field study, geographic conditions,
and remote sensing data, the study area was divided into five
categories. The 1999 and 2019 comparison of LU / LC obtained
from the analysis of top sheet and satellite imagery showed a
significant variation in the land use classifications. It also
shows the trends and pattern of future urban agglomeration
with respect peri-urban to municipal limit and upcoming
planning strategies. The research study shows effectiveness of
remote sensing and GIS in urban studies. It is also noted that
during the time of study, large amounts of agricultural land,
water spread area, and dense vegetation area has transformed
due to the rapid urbanization of the urban agglomeration area.
Keywords—Remote sensing, GIS, Peri-urban;
agglomeration ; Vegetation
I. INTRODUCTION
Currently, 55% of the world's population is living in
urban areas, and by 2050, the figure is estimated to rise to
68%. Urbanization can be linked to the rapid population shift
from rural to urban area. The global population growth, with
2.25 billion more people reaching urban areas are the major
challenges, with China and Asia increasing urbanization is
likely to reach 90% in another 50 years [1]. Sustainable
improvement cannot be achieved without significant changes
in the mode we shape and manage our urban spaces.
Urbanization has become a sustainable process with rapid
population growth in India as a result of demand for better
quality of life.
The rapid development of cities is underway, especially
in developing countries, as a result of population progress
and growing migration. Cities have become an important
part of human life. Sustainable cities offer job and business
prospects, safe and affordable housing in which sustainable
communities are created [2]. This applies to the investment
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Subhrajit Banerjee
Faculty of Architecture and Planning,
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University
Lucknow, India
banerjee.subhrajit@foaaktu.ac.in
Anil Kumar Roy
Faculty of Planning
CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Gujrat
anil.roy@cept.ac.in
in public transport, building green public spaces and
promoting equitable and diverse urban planning and
management engagement. Density of communities and
influences of economic activity play a key role in classifying
and separating urban or rural areas. These factors also play a
major role in characterizing urban areas such as cities,
metropolitan cities and mega cities. Urbanization is strictly
associated with the three parameters of sustainable
development: economic, social and environmental
development. Associated urbanization (among other factors),
informed by understanding the population trends over the
long term helps to maximize the benefits of agglomeration
ascendancy [3].
The relationship between small town and rural
environment needs to be strengthened in recognition of the
Urban
economic, social and environmental interdependence. One
can support sustainable development in urban and rural areas
by enhancing services and infrastructure and increasing
opportunities for non-agricultural jobs for rural people [4].
The service delivery strategy for urban and rural residents
must include consideration for potential city center and
multiple possibilities for nearby rural settlements. Urban and
spatial planning have an impact on urbanization, along with
public and private investment in built form and the related
infrastructures. As a center of traffic, trade and information
flow, an increasing proportion of economic activity and
innovation is concentrated in cities. There are also high-
quality government and private services in cities, the basic
services are often more accessible than rural services.
Peri-urban areas typically occur as a result of increasing
urban activities in urban areas beyond the current municipal
boundaries. Peri-urbanization can be characterized as a
process in which, often on a case-by-case basis, rural areas in
the outskirts are increasingly becoming geographically,
economically and socially active. It is characterized by trends
in local economics and employment, rapid growth in
production, population growth and migration from
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agricultural areas [5]. This leads to increasing land values,
and mixed land uses. At first glance, processes of peri-
urbanization around the world (e.g. developing and
developed countries) tend to become complex in nature.
In recent years, geospatial technology (GIS and Remote
Sensing) provides a powerful tool to track not only natural
resources and changes in the environment, but also analyses
data on other socio-cultural variables. It has emerged as a
common viable replacement for land asset inventory due to
its cost-effectiveness and technical soundness and provides a
permanent and reliable record of spatial trends [6]. One of
the most important and distinguishing features of Remote
Sensing in contrast to other data acquisition methods is that it
can provide precise, predictive surface information at large
spatial coverage and at regular time intervals. Remote
sensing data makes it appropriate for inventory of land use /
land cover patterns and their dynamics across large areas due
to its perspective, multi-spectral, multi-resolution and
frequent monitoring capabilities [7].
Spectacular advances in the GIS analysis is to synthesize
different thematic knowledge with collateral data have made
this software not only efficient and economical, but also a
tool for achieving sustainable land and water resource
management growth strategies. Geographical information
systems (GIS) have proven to be extremely helpful in
managing the huge space engineering database [8]. The
utility of GIS is well known in analyzing and modelling
integrated data. GIS has been used in the development of
electronic databases, status assessment and resource use
patterns in the regions, as well as in promoting and analyzing
various alternatives to resource management.
II. JUSTIFICATION FOR THE SELCETION OF THE STUDY
AREA
Lucknow is the capital city of most populated state of
Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located between the Latitude
26.83degree North and Longitude 80.92-degree East, in the
northern hemisphere. It is situated in the core of the Gangetic
plain. It is bounded by five national highways named as NH-
24 (Sitapur road to New Delhi), NH-25 (Kanpur road to
Jhnasi / Bhopal), NH-28 (Faizabad Road). NH-24 (B)-
Raibarelly and Allahababd, NH-(56) to Sultanpur
(LDA,2031) . It has two state highways also. The two
railways corridors of the Northern Eastern Railway (NER)
and the North Railway pass through the whole city cutting
old parts as well as newly developed areas. It is a
headquarter of Commissionerate of respective adjoining
areas of district.
Lucknow is fifth most populated (45.8 lakhs) district in
Uttar Pradesh, while second most populated (29.02 lakhs)
urban agglomeration in Utter Pradesh and eleventh in India
covering a total area of 2528 sq. kilometer. Its population
density is 1816 persons per kilometers (Census,2011).
Population density in existing built-up residential areas
ranges from 600 PPH to 1000 PPH (LDA, 2031). Probably
the most common feature in peri-urban areas is rapid
population growth. One may define the growing population
as' forced transfers' or' free agents.' The implications are
essentially based on three things: very small peri-urban areas
with positive and negative characteristics, such as
unemployment and diverse demography. There is a tension
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between old resident and new migrant population, such as a
large population at peri-urban hostels in the city. There are
two forms of peri-urban areas where the elderly live in
homes and young families are relocating to the newly
developed peripheral locations. The positive aspect of peri-
urban areas is new infrastructure for industrial and other
urban services and more open spaces for both recreational
and sport activities which may increase the land value and
efficiency of urban services thereby increasing the municipal
income, contributing to the local economy in the long run.
While at the same time, it may reduce farming. Another
important factor is that living in peri-urban areas can be both
cheap and expensive.
The main objective of this paper is to study the need of
micro-level assessment of land use / land cover and degraded
land using modern Remote Sensing and GIS geo-informatics.
This study may demonstrate a better contribution in the
management of agro-ecological, rapid development trends in
terms of urbanization and other planning and policy related
issues. The north-western corridor and south-eastern
metropolitan area of Lucknow has shown significant
development that has raised energy demand, increased usage
urban resources, high land / land use transition from
agriculture to non-farming, leading to higher levels of
greenhouse emissions, elevated levels of pollution, and new
urban heat islands in areas.
III. DATA, SOFTWARE AND METHOD USED
Remote sensing has become a significant tool for
developing and understanding global physical processes on
earth analysis. Recent developments in the use of satellite
data are supposed to take advantage, in combination with
GIS, of the increasing quantities and qualities of available
geographical data to assist in understanding the spatial
phenomenon.
A. Satellite data
x Landsat 4-5 Thematic mapper TM Collection C1
level 1, multi spectral data of March,1999 (bands 1-
5, 7, resolution 30 m) obtained from earth
explorer.usgs.gov
x Landsat 4-5 Thematic mapper TM Collection C1
level 1, multi spectral data of July,2009 (bands 1-5,
7, resolution 30 m) obtained from earth
explorer.usgs.gov
x Landsat 8 OLI/ TIRS CI Level-1, multi spectral data
of 8 August,2019 (bands 1-5, 7, resolution 30 m)
obtained from earth explorer.usgs.gov
B. Maps and reports
Lucknow Development Authority Master Plan-2031
Census map (Census,2011, India)
District Census Handbook, Lucknow-2011,
(Census,2011, India)
Lucknow municipal corporation CDP and reports
The mango belt gazette-1985
C. Software
Geographic information system software of Arc GIS 10.4
(ESRI).
Microsoft Excel -2016
Autocad-2019

IV. METHODS
The study was conducted using following methodological
steps

A. Processing of preliminary Landsat (TM/OLI) Imaginary

Landsat TM (1999 and 2009) and OLI (2019) data were
abstracted from United State Geological Survey earth
explorer. All sets of Landsat data are pre- referenced. For
analyzing the data Arc GIS 10.4 software has been used for
the whole study

B. Processing of advance Landsat (TM/OLI) Imaginary

Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) data from 1999 and
2009, band 1–5 and 7 were used for mapping land use, band
6 was not used as a thermal band, while data from Landsat
OLI (Operational Land Imager) were used only band 1–7
used for 2019 [9]. The supervised image classification
techniques with maximum likelihood method approach has
been used to show changes in land use / land cover over the
decadal time line along with different types of land uses. A Fig. 1. LULC 1999, Lucknow District
total of 1400 signatures from all the images are composed
and combined to properly detect each land use class.

C. Visual interpretation and ground verification of

Imaginary
Based on standard image interpretation keys such as tone,
texture, size, pattern, association, ancillary and legacy data,
preliminary screen visual image interpretation was
performed to identify land use / land cover classes and land
degradation [10]. Digital image classification has also been
carried out using both supervised and unsupervised methods
for the identification of features.
The droughts areas on interpreted photos have been
identified and classified for ground confirmation and field
transverse verification has been done [11].
There are major three criteria for choosing peri-urban
area (i) Distance within 30km of radius of the city
core/center. (ii) Density of land cover open v/s built-up. (iii)
Within the limit of 2031 master plan boundary.
Administrative ULB sub district center as Nagar panchayats.
The calculation or description of the real boundaries between
the urban and rural area, i.e. 10 to 20 km. It has been
suggested that it is centered on a radius of 30 to 50 km
around the city [12].

Fig. 2. LULC 2009, Lucknow District

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 Fig. 5. LULC 2009 with 5 km buffer for delineation of peri urban region
Fig. 3. LULC 2019, Lucknow District of Lucknow

Fig. 6. LULC 2019 with 5 km buffer for delineation of peri urban region
Fig. 4. LULC 1999 with 5 km buffer for delineation of peri urban region of Lucknow
of Lucknow

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 V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Awareness of land use/ land cover has become necessary
to overcome the problems of biogeochemical cycles,
degradation of viable habitats, biodiversity, decline of
environmental quality, loss of agricultural land, depletion of
wetlands, and loss of fish and wildlife habitat. The main
reasons behind LU / LC reforms include rapid population
growth, rural-to-urban migration, reclassification of rural
areas as urban areas, lack of value of ecological resources,
deprivation, lack of knowledge of biophysical limits and the
use of environmentally unsustainable technology.
Source: Computed by author with the help of MS Excel
Fig. 7. Assessment of LULC of Lucknow (in %)
Source: Computed by author with the help of MS Excel
Fig. 8. Assessment of LULC of Lucknow (in KM)
Based on the analysis of remote sensing images, field
surveys and current research area conditions, the study area
has been divided into five categories, i.e. Vegetation, built-
up area, water body, vacant land, and agriculture (refer figure
7). The study area measures 2538 Sq. Km and LU / LC
progresses have been assessed and analyzed for three
decades i.e. from 1999 to 2019.
Figure 8 gives the statistical results of LU/LC changes. It
is evident from Figure 8 that the LU/LC changes were of
highest amount in agriculture and built-up area from 1999 to
2019. Comparison of LU/LC in 1999, 2009 and 2019 derived
from topo sheet and satellite imagery interpretation indicates
that the built-up area, comprising human habitation
developed for non-agricultural uses like building, transport,
and communications is largely increased from 283 sq. km
(1999) to 360 sq. km (2009) to 1021 sq. km (2019), with a
net addition of 738 sq. km (refer figure 1,2,3 and figure 8).
This is due to urban expansion and population increase in the
study area during the study period.
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From 1751 sq.km (1999) to 1454 km2 (2009) to 1003
km2 (2019), with a net decrease of 748 km2 (refer Figure 8),
the agricultural land used for paddy and the production of
food, vegetables and other mixed varieties such as mango
horticulture and other home-grown trees has declined
significantly.
Large amounts of agricultural land converted into
settlements and other urban development activities were
observed in the study area. Water distribution zones,
including man-made and natural water structures such as
rivers / streams, dams and lakes, have declined from 37 sq.
km in 1999 to 22 sq. km in 2009 to 12 sq. km in 2019, with a
net decrease of 25 sq. km (refer Figure 8). Decrease in the
areas of waterbody has occurred due to the eventual
transformation of the area of distribution of water into a
built-up area or a human development zone.
The vegetation has been decreased from 325 sq. km in
1999 to 303 sq. km in 2009, while a significant growth has
been observed in 2019 i.e. 353 sq. km. The total positive
change of 28 sq. km (1.1%) has been observed (refer Figure
7).
In April 23, 1985, a mango belt gazette passed through
the legislature is the basis of state rules and regulations. A
special availability of 3 Kilometer buffer zone should be
restricted for the polluting industries as well as brick kilns,
etc. In master plan 2031, in the agricultural area, the mango
orchard area has a total area of 2.2428 km according to their
region and jurisdiction. This is the main cause to increase
vegetation in 2007.
Significant decline and loss of land cover / deforestation
has occurred in the previous decades (1999 and 2009) (Refer
figure 1,2) particularly in the mango cultivation area, which
was the main agricultural cash crop in the study area., These
were largely the mango orchards and trees along the western
corridor linking the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and the
Railway Corridor to the National Capital Region.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
This paper uses remote sensing details and GIS software
to determine the LU / LC changes in an urban area which is
the city of Lucknow, India. Our results clearly indicate that
during the period from 1999 to 2019 there were significant
changes in LU / LC. The built-up area was found to be
substantially increased. On the other side, agriculture, water
bodies areas are diminishing, while vacant land increased in
first decade of the study period and declined in the next
decade. This study clearly demonstrates the significant
impact of people and their built-up development in LU/LC.
This study shows the incorporation of GIS and remote
sensing technology is an effective tool for community
planning, management and public policies. The
quantification of Lucknow area’s LU/LC changes is very
valuable for environmental and ecological management
groups, policymakers and a better understanding of the
environment for the government. As a result, the periphery or
fringe areas of Indian cities today are characterized by
mostly unplanned changes from predominantly agricultural
to mixed urban land use, scattered urban development, and
insufficient provision of other infrastructure and services.
Such conventional zones, the future of intermediate urban
areas, are undergoing an unprecedented process of spatial
growth, cultural, economic and climate change.
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