Impact of Urbanization on Land Use and Land Cover in Metropolitan Areas

Abstract

Land is the most important natural resources on which all activities are based. Land use unlike geology, is seasonally dynamic and indeed is more changing. The increase in population and human activities are increasing the demand on the limited land and soil resources for agriculture, forest, pasture, urban and industrial land uses. Information on the rate and kind of changes in the use of land resources is essential for proper planning, management and to regularise the use of such resources. Land use / land cover are very dynamic in nature and have to be monitored at regular intervals for sustainable environmental development (Zubair, 2006). Population is a very important factor or agent of change in land-use in an area. For instance, as population increases, construction of dwellings increases, thus engendering conversion of cropland and forest land to settlements. These urban land-uses are of various types which could be for industrial, commercial, government, as well as transportation purposes. This study examined the integration of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (RS/GIS) for analyzing land use and land cover dynamics in Gombe Metropolitan, the Gombe State capital for the period 1976 to 2016. Land sat (TM) images of 1976, 1996and 2016 were used. It is therefore recommended that encouragement should be given to people to build towards the outskirts, like New mile 3 and Tumfure,etc through the provision of incentives and forces of attraction that is available at the city center in these areas to avoid the problem of overcrowdings.