Spatio-temporal Dynamics of Land Use and Land Cover Change Driven by Rapid Urbanization in and Around Ranchi, India

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation has emerged as one of the principal drivers of land use and land cover (LULC) transformation globally. Ranchi has experienced accelerated population growth, infrastructure expansion, and economic development over the past three decades, requiring a thorough assessment of its changing landscape. The present study investigated the spatio-temporal dynamics of LULC change in Ranchi between 1994 and 2024 using multi-temporal Landsat imagery and a supervised maximum likelihood classification approach. Five major LULC classes—agriculture, vegetation, built-up land, barren land, and water bodies—were mapped and validated using a confusion-matrix-based accuracy assessment. The classified maps achieved reliable overall accuracies ranging from 78.0% to 87.6%, with Kappa coefficients between 0.70 and 0.82. The results revealed profound landscape transformation characterised by rapid urban expansion. Built-up land increased by 594.55%, expanding from 29.37 km² in 1994 to 203.99 km² in 2024 and becoming the dominant land-use category. Conversely, vegetation, agriculture, barren land, and water bodies declined by 58.28%, 25.32%, 54.49%, and 67.57%, respectively. The observed transitions indicate increasing anthropogenic pressure on the ecologically sensitive Chotanagpur Plateau, with potential implications for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem-service provision, groundwater recharge, urban hydrology, and local climatic conditions. This study provides a robust geospatial baseline for monitoring long-term urban landscape dynamics and offers valuable information for sustainable land-use planning and evidence-based policy formulation to support resilient urban development.