Assessment of land use/land cover changes in Hue City during the period 2012-2022

Abstract

This study evaluates the changes in land use/land cover in Hue City from 2012 to 2022 by creating three land use/land cover maps for the years 2012, 2017, and 2022 using the Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) method with Landsat 7, 8, and 9 images including five types of land cover: bare land, transportation, water, agricultural, and built-up areas. The Kappa coefficient of the maps, which exceeds 0.9, indicates a reliable level of confidence; however, there are still errors present in the interpretation of Landsat images with a resolution of 30 30m. The results of the study indicate that the expansion of urban space has significantly increased the agricultural land cover, as well as the area of built-up and transportation land, which rose dramatically from 3,902.38 hectares to 7,473.70 hectares. The research shows that after the expansion of the Hue City, the area with the highest building density has tended to develop towards the East-Southeast, due to the incorporation of densely built districts such as Thuan An Ward and Phu Dương Commune. The study has revealed significant fluctuations in land use cover in Hue city during the period from 2012 to 2022, contributing to the understanding of urban development trends and changes in land use structure following the administrative boundary expansion.