The driving forces of changes in land use of a Peri-urban area: The case of Tselinograd district, Kazakhstan

Abstract

This study focuses on the spatiotemporal dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC) in the Tselinograd district, which is a peri-urban area (PUA) of the metropolis Nur-Sultan. The analysis of LULC dynamics in PUA was carried out based on a supervised classification in the twenty-year interval (1998, 2008, and 2018). During the study period, noticeable changes occurred in the structure of LULC. At the border with the city, the built-up area increased dramatically. In the PUA the area of arable land and forests has grown steadily and pasture land has been declining. That is, there is an intensification of land use due to an increase in the share of arable land in the study area. The main drivers of LULC change in PUA are urban expansion and population growth of the Nur Sultan metropolis. In general, as a result of reasonable economic and legislative measures, the influence of the Urban sprawl of the capital of Kazakhstan on the PUA is still accompanied by a slight effect on its sustainable development. Our approach by using Geo-Information Techniques is useful for the rapid detection of phenomena and processes that can lead to the unstable development of PUA.