Geospatial Assessment Of Urban Sprawl Using Remote Sensing And GIS: A Case Study of Western Himalayan City of Dharmashala, Himachal Pradesh, India.

Abstract

Abstract The small cities in the Asian subcontinent are supposedly going to witness exponential growth in the next two decades. The situation could be very challenging in Himalayan cities owing to topo-geographical complexities and limited resources in the region. The increasing population coupled with being a favored tourist destination had resulted in dispersed, inefficient, and unplanned built-up activities in the region. Monitoring the urban sprawl can help in adopting sustainable development strategies equally balanced towards the society and environment. The availability of geospatial data integrated into the GIS interface can help immensely in monitoring and measuring LULC changes and thereby help in formulating necessary interventions and strategies for realizing a sustainable ecosystem. The present study employs Landsat imagery for creating the built-up land cover maps for the year 2016, 2019, and 2022 and the ALOS-PALSAR Digital Elevation Model for understanding the trend and direction of urban sprawl in Dharamshala city. It was found in the study that the built-up dynamic index had increased to 23.3% from the year 2016 to 2022. The built-up growth rate for the study period was found to be 145% for the elevation less than and equal to 1000m, 143% for elevations ranging from 1000-1500m, and 119% for the elevation greater than 1500m. The built-up growth rate for a distance up to 100 m from the streams was 119% from the year 2016 to 2022. The geospatial risk assessment highlights potential threats in the region due to increased built up activities, emphasizing the need for prompt intervention by policy-makers, administrators, and environmentalists to advocate for a sustainable development model.