Urban expansion and its impact on land use/land cover change and the surrounding community in intermediate Ethiopian towns

Urban expansion is an inevitable socioeconomic process that influences land use/land cover change (LULCC) and the surrounding community. Most studies related to urban growth patterns and LULCC address this issue on a single-city basis. This study focused on four intermediate towns located in different farming systems. This study examined the magnitude of urban expansion, its underlying causes and its impact on land use/land cover change and the surrounding communities in the urban fringes of intermediate towns (Debre Markos, Jimma, Hossaena and Jigjiga) in Ethiopia. The study uses Landsat imagery for the four study towns to assess LULCC from 1986 to 2020 supplemented with a cross-sectional survey design to collect data from randomly selected 400 farmers in the urban fringe areas of the study towns. Moreover, interviews were conducted with key informants and persons with better knowledge of towns. The change detection method was used for land use/land cover change, and an accuracy assessment was performed to determine the quality of the images. Annual area expansion and descriptive statistics were used to compute socioeconomic data. The finding showed that all the study towns have undergone rapid urban expansion with a magnitude of nearly 14-fold or greater, between the years 1986−2020. The expansion was very high in Jimma, with 128 ha year−1, and Jigjiga, with 100 ha year−1. The lowest expansion was observed in Debre Markos, with 26 ha year−1 , followed by Hossaena, with 77 ha year−1. The dominant type of urban growth in all the study towns was the extension type, but the leapfrog type was dominant in Jigjiga from 1986 to 2020. Population growth was the main driving force of urban growth in all the study towns. Other local factors, such as public investment, poor land administration and traditional land tenure systems, were also found to underlie urban expansion. The LULCC noted in the study area were a decline in crop land, grass land and forests/plantations and an increase in built-up areas. In terms of livelihood, urban expansion caused a loss of livelihood assets, a shift from farming to non-farming and shifts in cropping patterns and intensification. Nevertheless, urban expansion can also present opportunities as it intensifies access to services, markets and infrastructure. This study provides an extended insight into town growth patterns that could be used in urban management and planning in different cities.