Abstract:
Urban land uses had been increasingly subjected to changes of different forms, sorts and types since the urban explosion of the 1970s. However most Sudanese cities are not planned and thus are not prepared for the flow in urban explosion. Khartoum is the capital of Sudan and Khartoum state which is located in the confluence of the White and Blue Niles. It is considered as the city with the largest population growth in Sudan. As a result of the population increasing, uncontrolled urbanization and mass immigration, an urbanization process continues. This continuation causes serious increase in built-up areas while decreasing the amount of the agricultural lands. Monitoring degradation of the agricultural lands, urbanization expansion, land use and land cover changes in Khartoum allow better management of the area of Khartoum metropolitan and surrounding areas which is a complex urban area.
Detecting changes over time series of land use and land cover of Khartoum has been documented and is the main goal of this study. The achievement and analysis of Landsat satellite images reflecting the significant and considerable land use and land cover changes between the years of 1972, 1987 and 2001. Maps for three epochs were generated for Khartoum area which is classified into four categories covering water bodies, built-up areas, agricultural areas, and unused areas. Land use and land cover changes through Thirty years have been detected for the study area.
The main conclusions obtained from the results of this research are:
• The quick loss of agricultural and green lands, in addition to unused areas is the outcome of the rapid urban growth in Khartoum.
• Urban built-up areas increased significantly from 222.72% to 24.09% which is mainly attributed to the fast increase of population due to large migration from rural areas to the city.
• Agricultural and green lands and unused areas decreased continuously from 1972 to 2001.
• The urban growth percentage was 300.47% in the period of 1972 to 2001, whilst, the percentage of agricultural and green land decreasing was 83.59% with respect to the year of 1972 as a baseline.
• Based on the accuracy obtained, satellite data can be operationally used to produce land use and land cover dynamics, and are useful for Khartoum and elsewhere for sustainable land management and strategy making.
