Abstract

Due to the modern breakthrough technological developments and rapid pace of urbanization as well as the haphazard growth of major cities has ushered- in, into one of the surmounting challenges which is menacingly faced by almost all the countries of the world. More so, this situation has worsened in India in a more pronounced fashion. As unorganized urbanization is becoming the major problem and primarily order of the day, it requires the immediate attention of technocrats/administrators for sustainable development of urban regions. In the emerging scenario it is essential to have updated information on urban growth patterns and its influence on the obtaining environments.

In recent years, the data analysis has indicated land cover as well as land use has undergone tremendous changes due to escalating and indiscriminate anthropogenic constructional developments. This paper will also examine the effective use of GIS and RS of near-real-time change detection of the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) and urban sprawl of the study area.

An attempt has been made to develop a change detection of Urban Sprawl in Pune Municipality Corporation (PMC) of Maharashtra state, over a time period of 14 years (1992 – 2006).  Visual interpretation technique has been used to classify the satellite imageries .The study has been conducted using LANDSAT ETM+ of the year 1992, 1999 and 2006. A new map has been developed showing the features of increase and decrease of the study area. Thus, it is further hoped that this paper will evince keen interest among the erudite readers/researchers, and will be of immense help to the municipal corporation authorities.

Keywords: LULC, ERDAS, LANDSAT, SPRAWL