Land Use Change Analysis and Sustainability Assessment of Urban Landscape with Multitemporal Satellite Imagery Processing Approach (Case Study: Erbil City, Iraq)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculty member, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, University of Maragheh

2 دانشگاه مراغه maragheh university

10.22034/rsgi.2025.68638.1145

Abstract

Objective: The city of Erbil, as one of the oldest and most historic human settlements in the world, has experienced significant changes in the last few decades, which has been mainly affected by rapid urban and economic developments caused by political and social factors. This research analyzes land use changes and assesses the sustainability of the urban landscape of Erbil using multitemporal satellite images, and specifically identifies the urban growth trend and its effects on spatial structure and land use in the period 2000 to 2024.
Methods: The research was conducted using Landsat 5, 8, and 9 satellite images, and after preprocessing the images with ENVI software, the object-oriented analysis (OBIA) method and eCognition software were used to classify different land uses. The classification results were transferred to Fragstats software and landscape analyses were performed based on different metrics. The classification accuracy was also evaluated using random reference points and calculating the overall accuracy and kappa coefficient indices.
Results: The results indicate significant changes in the spatial structure and land use of Erbil city during the period 2000 to 2024; the urban built-up areas increased from 89.12 km² (equivalent to 6.18% of the total area) in 2000 to 347.81 km² (equivalent to 24.11%) in 2024. In contrast, agricultural lands and forests decreased, such that agricultural lands decreased from 86.59 to 46.94 km² and forests decreased from 27.13 to 17.19 km². Also, although green spaces have increased, they still constitute a small share of the spatial structure of the city. The analysis of landscape metrics shows that CLUMPY and COHESION indices have continuously increased in human uses, while a decrease has been observed in natural uses.
Conclusions: These changes indicate the trend of environmental instability and unplanned urban development, which highlights the need for smart land use management and restoration of natural covers.

Keywords

Main Subjects

شهر اربیل، به عنوان یکی از قدیمی‌ترین و تاریخی‌ترین سکونت‌گاه‌های بشری در جهان، در چند دهه اخیر تغییرات قابل توجهی را تجربه کرده است که عمدتاً تحت تأثیر توسعه‌های سریع شهری و اقتصادی ناشی از عوامل سیاسی و اجتماعی قرار داشته است. این پژوهش به تحلیل تغییرات کاربری اراضی و ارزیابی پایداری سیمای سرزمین شهری اربیل با استفاده از تصاویر چندزمانه ماهواره‌ای می‌پردازد و به‌طور خاص به شناسایی روند رشد شهری و تأثیرات آن بر ساختار فضایی و کاربری اراضی در بازه زمانی ۲۰۰۰ تا ۲۰۲۴ می‌پردازد. تحقیق با استفاده از تصاویر ماهواره‌ای لندست ۵، ۸ و ۹ انجام شده و پس از پیش‌پردازش تصاویر با نرم‌افزار ENVI، از روش تحلیل شی‌ءگرا (OBIA) و نرم‌افزار eCognition برای طبقه‌بندی کاربری‌های مختلف استفاده شده است. نتایج طبقه‌بندی به نرم‌افزار Fragstats منتقل و تحلیل‌های سیمای سرزمین بر اساس سنجه­های مختلف انجام گردیده است. دقت طبقه‌بندی نیز با استفاده از نقاط مرجع تصادفی و محاسبه شاخص‌های دقت کلی و ضریب کاپا ارزیابی شده است. نتایج نشان‌دهنده تغییرات قابل توجهی در ساختار فضایی و کاربری اراضی شهر اربیل طی بازه زمانی ۲۰۰۰ تا ۲۰۲۴ است. مناطق ساخته‌شده شهری از 12/89 کیلومترمربع (معادل 18/6% از کل منطقه مورد مطالعه) در سال ۲۰۰۰ به 347/81 کیلومترمربع (معادل 11/24%) در سال ۲۰۲۴ افزایش یافته است. در مقابل، اراضی کشاورزی و جنگل‌ها کاهش یافته‌اند، به‌طوری‌که اراضی کشاورزی از 59/86 به 94/46 کیلومترمربع و جنگل‌ها از 13/27 به 19/17 کیلومترمربع کاهش یافته‌اند. همچنین، فضاهای سبز اگرچه افزایش یافته، اما براساس نتایج بدست آمده همچنان سهم اندکی از ساختار فضایی شهر را تشکیل می‌دهند. تحلیل سنجه‌های سیمای سرزمین نشان می‌دهد که شاخص‌های تجانس لکه‌ها و شاخص انسجام فضایی در کاربری‌های انسانی به‌طور مستمر افزایش یافته‌اند، در حالی که در کاربری‌های طبیعی کاهش مشاهده شده است. این تغییرات نشان‌دهنده روند ناپایداری زیست‌محیطی و توسعه شهری بی‌برنامه است که نیاز به مدیریت هوشمند کاربری زمین و احیای پوشش‌های طبیعی را برجسته می‌سازد.

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Volume 6, Issue 18
April 2026
Pages 121-97
  • Receive Date: 13 August 2025
  • Revise Date: 21 November 2025
  • Accept Date: 29 December 2025