Quantification of Land Cover Changes in Sub-urban Areas of Pekanbaru City

Abstract

Abstract Morphologically, land cover, urban and rural areas have different characteristics. It is the same as Pekanbaru City area that has unique characteristics including its surrounding regencies. However, the high level of land demand caused by increasing economic activity, high natural and non-natural population growth, makes the morphology of land cover in urban and rural areas unclear. Empirically this beginning to be considered common in urban areas that have a role as a strategic point or center of economic activity, but one of the concerns is the development of unplanned and dominating areas in a space that later create a more fragile environmental conditions in suburban areas. This study aimed to identify changes in land cover and assess the level of conformity of land use in the suburbs of Pekanbaru City. This study used a description method with two stages, (1). Identifying land cover using temporal images, (2). Analyze the level of conformity of land use. The results showed that there are four patterns of land cover change in the suburbs of Pekanbaru City, especially on the road axis connecting the surrounding area. These developments indicate nonconformity of land use which has an impact on the loss of protected land and productive plantation land in the suburbs of Pekanbaru City.