Detection of Urban Sprawl and Site Suitability Analysis Using Geospatial Technologies: A Case Study of Nekemte, Ethiopia

Abstract

Urban sprawl, which has become a concern for many rapidly developing regions, is the uncontrolled growth of urban areas due to unplanned urbanization. This study aims to analyze the urban sprawl conditions in Nekemte Town, Ethiopia, over the last thirty years and identify suitable sites for further urban development based on geospatial technologies with multicriteria evaluation (MCE) techniques. Digital elevation models, satellite images from different years, and infrastructure-related data were the major inputs for the findings of this thesis. Findings from the study clearly reveal that the town has grown significantly in all directions between 2004 and 2019. Built-up areas have increased considerably over the last fifteen years, replacing a large portion of other land use/land cover types. The major land use/land cover types converted into built-up areas are vegetation and cultivated lands. The furthest expansion of the town’s built-up areas is towards the west and east, mainly due to plain topography and institutional factors, such as the Nekemte Referral Hospital in the west and Wollega University in the east. Findings from the suitability analysis show that 73.69% of Nekemte Town’s total area is unsuitable, while about 26.31% are categorized as suitable sites for urban development. The critical importance of land for specified uses should be understood in terms of both physical and economic suitability.