Spatiotemporal Evolution Analysis of Construction Land Expansion in Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone Based on Remote Sensing

Focusing on Wuhan's East Lake High-tech Development Zone, this paper draws upon Landsat imagery and land use records from three years—2005, 2015, and 2025. Land use dynamics were mapped in ArcMap, and the environmental ripple effects of construction land growth were evaluated using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) alongside Land Surface Temperature (LST). The data show that construction land within the zone expanded from 43.61 km² to 121.72 km² across the two decades, an increase of roughly 179%, with growth fanning out mainly toward the east and south. Cropland steadily gave way to urban uses. A tight spatial coupling emerged among the three datasets. Gains in construction land coincided with thinning vegetation and climbing surface temperatures. Meanwhile, East Lake and its surrounding green belts remained cool and densely vegetated, serving as a critical buffer against the urban heat island and helping sustain regional ecological stability. The results can inform land allocation strategies and territorial spatial planning for the zone.