Study on land use change and ecological sensitivity development in urban areas of Urumqi with GIS support

In the context of urban expansion in arid oasis areas, land use optimization and ecological security are facing many challenges, especially in ecologically fragile areas such as Urumqi. This study relies on GIS and remote sensing technology to comprehensively analyze the characteristics of land use/cover change (LUCC) in urban areas of Urumqi from 2005 to 2020, and construct an ecological sensitivity evaluation system, aiming to reveal the mechanism between rapid urbanization and ecological vulnerability. The study adopts multi-temporal Landsat remote sensing images with maximum likelihood classification, and combines hierarchical analysis method (AHP) and standard deviation method to construct a comprehensive weighting model to realize the coupling of LUCC dynamics and ecological sensitivity analysis. Nine key factors were selected from the dimensions of topography, vegetation, climate and human activities to establish a comprehensive evaluation index system of ecological sensitivity adapted to the characteristics of arid zones. The results show that the cultivated land and man-made land surface area increased significantly during the study period, the highly sensitive area gradually concentrated to the central urban area, and the ecological spatial pattern showed obvious heterogeneous evolution. This study provides theoretical basis and methodological reference for urban land space planning, delineation of “three control lines” and sustainable development strategy in arid areas.