Analysis Of Changes In Land Use And Land Cover In Pune City Over A Decade Using Geospatial Techniques.

Abstract Land use and land cover (LULC) changes play a significant role in reflecting natural and anthropogenic environmental changes. In this study, changes in 'Land Use and Land Cover' (LULC) in Pune city for the period 2015-2025 have been analysed using the techniques of 'Remote Sensing' and 'Geographic Information System' (GIS). The May 2015 and May 2025 30 m resolution Landsat 08 satellite images were used. For LULC classification, the 'Supervised Maximum Likelihood Classification' method was used, resulting in 5 major LULC classes: built-up land, barren land, and agricultural land, vegetation, and water bodies. More than 100 'training samples' were taken for each land cover type to improve classification accuracy. The findings of the study show that there was a considerable shift in the spatial distribution of LULC in this decade. Built-up land increased from 154.48 sq. km (30.48%) in 2015 to 292.26 sq. km (57.86%) in 2025, representing an increase of approximately 137.78 sq. km. Conversely, the area of barren land decreased from 203.94 sq. km (40.24%) to 106.93 sq. km (21.10%). The amount of agricultural land has reduced from 44.39 sq. km (8.75%) to 18.93 sq. km (3.72%), indicating that agricultural land has been converted for urbanisation on a large scale. Regarding vegetation cover, 85.91 sq. km showed a marginal decrease from 16.95% to 15.58%, whereas the area of water bodies decreased from 18.13 sq. km (3.58%) to 10.77 sq. km (2.12%). The results show the rapid growth of Pune city during the study period, which is mainly observed in the loss or transformation of barren land, agricultural land and water bodies. The study shows the usefulness of using Landsat data, ‘supervised maximum likelihood classification’, GIS and ‘change detection' techniques for tracking long-term urban growth and environmental changes. The results of this research can help urban planners and decision makers in formulating policies for sustainable land use and in safeguarding environmentally sensitive areas.