Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Urban Green Spaces and Land Use/Land Cover Change in Gondar City, Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract Urban areas are very dynamic places that are changing rapidly due to population growth and urbanization.This study aimed to assess the spatio-temporal dynamics of UGS under land use/land cover change (LULCC) from 1991 to 2024 in Gondar city. To do this, a combination of spatial and non-spatial data sources, including ArcGIS (Ver. 10.8), ERDAS Imagine 2015 and thematic analysis, were employed. A supervised image classification method was employed to create LULCC maps. The results showed that a decrease in the area of water bodies (WB) and croplands (CL) by 1 422.87 and 4,076.93 ha, respectively, while built-up areas (BUA), bare lands (BL) and UGS increased by 4,051.99, 863.66 and 584.15 ha, respectively. The findings revealed that urban expansion, rural-urban migration, population growth, land grabbing and illegal settlements were the main drivers of LULCC. Moreover the rate of UGS change increased by 17.7 ha annually, with a total gain, net change, and net persistence of 1,758.46, 584.15 and 0.82 ha, respectively. The highest area of UGS converted to CL and BUA. To enhance UGS development and a sustainable urban environment, it is crucial to implement effective land use development and management strategies, manage urban expansion and population growth and regulate illegal settlements and land grabbing. These results provide valuable insights for policymakers in the field of urban green infrastructure planning and environmental management and contribute to the existing literature while enhancing knowledge on UGS.