Assessment of urban sprawl, land use/land cover changes and land consumption rate in Hisar City, Haryana, India.

Keeping in mind the detrimental effects of sprawl on the urban landscape, an accurate and thorough analysis of the spatiotemporal growth pattern is necessary for well-organized and sustainable urban progression. This study mainly focuses on urban sprawl and land use/land cover changes (LULCC) in Hisar City of Haryana, India. The extent of urban sprawl and changes in different land utilization over 30 years have been assessed using Shannon's entropy technique. Additionally, the land consumption rate and land absorption coefficient are introduced to support the quantitative evaluation of changes. Finally, the accuracy assessment (producer's, user's, and overall) with the Kappa coefficient was applied for spatial accuracy valuation to confirm the land use/land cover (LULC) reliability based on Landsat multi-temporal satellite data from 1991 to 2021. The study deals with water bodies, open/bare land, vegetation, agricultural lands and built-up area as LULC categories for changes evaluations. As per findings, the built-up area has increased more than twice (2,826.72 hectares) by the total area throughout the studied period, whereas farming land has lost almost half part (3,497.94 hectares). The urban sprawl and LULC change mechanisms have directly influenced other natural resources, including farming land. The increasing entropy values also confirm the sprawl or fragmented development in the city, mainly from the centre to the periphery. This unrestricted expansion has changed the geography of the concerned region and surpassed the land use plans. The suggested policy options may assist decision-makers in resolving the urban impediments, minimizing the additional loss of peripheral landscape, and achieving longterm urban growth planning in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]