Detection of land use/ landcover in prayagraj city

Land use and land use and land cover (LULC) analysis plays a crucial role in comprehending the dynamic urban changes, particularly in rapidly growing cities such as Prayagraj. This research focuses on identifying and evaluating the LULC trends of Prayagraj city based on remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools. Owing to the ongoing urbanization, comprehending these changes holds paramount importance for making informed urban planning, environmental management, and sustainable development. Prayagraj, which lies in the north of India, has experienced considerable urbanization within the last two decades, hence contributing to impressive land use patterns. The city is a religio-historic, administratively important one that is represented by varied forms of land usage such as residential, agricultural, industrial, and recreational land types. The growth of urban areas and the decrease in greenbelts and agricultural areas are distinguishable trends that have arisen as a result of increasing population, development of infrastructure, and industrialization. Foranalyzing the LULC changes, satellite data of Landsat and Sentinel satellites was utilized to produce multi-temporal land use maps. The data were processed based on different image classification methods, such as supervised and unsupervised classification, to classify the land into specific classes like residential, commercial, agricultural, water bodies, forests, and bare land. The classifications were then verified using secondary data sources and field surveys for the validation of the results. The findings of the study indicated a pronounced change in the land use scenario of Prayagraj. Urban settlements have increased, especially in the northern and southern directions of the city, leading to a substantial decline in agricultural land and green cover. The study also indicated a decline in the cover of water bodies and forests, posing questions to the ecological sustainability of the city. This urban spread, in terms of residential and commercial development, is expanding at the expense of previously open and agricultural land, emphasizing the importance of strategic land management policies.