REMOTE SENSING AND GIS APPLICATIONS FOR MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT OF THE URBAN SPRAWL IN FAISALABAD-PAKISTAN

Urban sprawl is a global phenomenon of present era and is mostly taking place in less developed countries. In LDCs there is a consistent and vibrant trend among the people to agglomerate in mega cities and large urban centers. This phenomenon has gained the attention of researchers in the fields of urban geography, environmental studies and city & regional planning. Keeping in view its importance, an attempt has been made to explore the use of geo-informatics techniques for the assessment of urban sprawl in Faisalabad city. The result inferred from the classified Landsat image for year 1980 revealed that the total built-up area of Faisalabad was 5661 hectors (26 per cent of total) while year 2010 classified Landsat image depicts that the total built-up area was 9480.44 hectors (44 per cent) of the City. The total areal change for 30 years research span (1980-2010) was 44 per cent in built up land, contrary to this non built-up /open area decreased to 32 per cent during the same period. The total area in 1980 was 102 sq. km while the city grew up to 213 sq. km by year 2010. This appreciable change in built up lands was at the expanse of fertile agricultural tracts once part of the fringe of Faisalabad city.