Impact of rapid urban growth on land use / land cover change and loss of urban green spaces: A comparative study of Guwahati city and Siliguri city, India

This article analyzes the impact of the rapid growth of cities in India on their land-use and land-cover patterns. It is based on the case study of cities of Guwahati in the state of Assam and Siliguri in the state of West Bengal. Analyzing Census of India data between 1971 and 2011 and utilizing multi-temporal Landsat data from 1990 to 2020, the article employs GIS techniques, including the maximum likelihood algorithm for supervised classification, to generate comprehensive land use and land cover maps of these two cities. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) method is additionally applied to discern changes in forest cover from 1990 to 2020. The analysis revealed rapid horizontal and vertical urban expansion of both Guwahati and Siliguri, accompanied by the conversion of forest and agricultural lands into built-up areas. The findings emphasize an urgent need for a robust policy framework to facilitate sustainable urban development and address the looming environmental challenges posed by the loss of green spaces in both cities and other urban regions of India.