Analyzing Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics Using Geospatial Approaches: A Case Study of District Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

The present study focuses on the city of Lahore due to the substantial impacts of LULC on land-atmosphere
climatic interactions. This study aims to find and interpret the variations in land use patterns in Lahore during 20 years
(2003, 2013, and 2023) with a ten-year interval. For in-depth analysis, four different classes- built-up, barren land,
vegetation, and water bodies were determined. Several pre- and post-processing procedures were carefully carried out
to improve the accuracy of the results after Landsat 7, Landsat 8, and Sentinel 2 satellite imageries had been utilized.
The methodology included supervised classification using the maximum likelihood algorithm along with change
detection to evaluate and interpret the LULC alterations. The extent of change is demonstrated by quantitative data
showing that the built-up area increased from 308.6491261 sq. km in 2003 to 336.9702759 sq. km in 2023. On the
other hand, there was a drop of 1099.13587 sq. km in barren land and a decrease of 10.47416794 sq. km in water
bodies. Despite a notable rise between 2003 and 2013, vegetation cover decreased by 328.4721624 sq. km by 2023.
This study offers important insights for sustainable urban development and land management policy in addition to
furthering our understanding of the dynamics of land use and land cover in Lahore