Urban Expansion Monitoring in Erbil City. Utilizing Remote Sensing tools in the Kurdistan Region

Table of Contents

Chapter one: Introduction

1.1: Introduction

1.2: Significance of the study

1.3: Statement of the problem

1.4: Aim of the study

1.5: Research question

1.6: Organization of the Thesis

Chapter two: Literature review

2.1: Introduction

2.2: History of application Remote Sensing

2.3: Identifying urban land use change

2.4: Urban change detection approach

2.5: Methods of digital image processing of satellite images

2.5.1: Image classification

2.5.2: Accuracy of image classification

Chapter three: Data and Methodology

3.1: Introduction

3.2: Description of the Study area

3.3: Data used in this study

3.4: Method

3.5: Analysing Satellite images

3.5.1: Layer Stacking

3.5.2: Subset of study site

3.5.3: Choosing of appropriate band combinations

3.5.4: Image Pre-processing

3.6: Image classification scheme

3.7: Image classification

3.7.1: Accuracy assessment

3.8: Change detection

Chapter four: Result and discussion

4.1: Introduction

4.2: Results

4.2.1: Image pre-processing

4.2.2: Analysis of Supervised classification

4.2.3: Reclassification

4.2.4:Post-classification change detection techniques

4.2.5: Accuracy assessment

4.3: Discussion

4.3.1: Image pre-processing and supervised classification

4.3.2: Reclassification

4.3.3: Post-classification change detection

4.3.4: Accuracy assessment

Chapter five: Conclusion and Recommendation

5.1: Limitations of the research

5.2: Contributions of the research to the body of knowledge

5.3: Conclusion

5.4: Recommendations

Research Objectives and Core Themes

The primary aim of this research is to analyze and visualize the spatial patterns of urban land use changes in Erbil city, Kurdistan, and to quantify the variations in land use classes by applying remote sensing techniques over the periods of 1987, 2000, and 2011.

• Utilization of multi-temporal Landsat 5 TM satellite imagery.
• Application of supervised image classification and maximum likelihood classifier.
• Assessment of urban land use expansion and its environmental/socio-economic impact.
• Implementation of post-classification change detection to quantify transitions between land use classes.
• Integration of GIS and remote sensing for effective urban planning and resource management.

Excerpt from the Book

Summary of Chapters

Chapter one: Introduction: Outlines the significance of urban growth in Erbil, the research objectives, the central research questions, and the structural organization of the thesis.

Chapter two: Literature review: Provides a theoretical background on remote sensing, the history of land use change detection, and the methodologies for digital image processing.

Chapter three: Data and Methodology: Details the study area description, data sources including Landsat imagery, and the specific procedures such as layer stacking and supervised classification.

Chapter four: Result and discussion: Presents the findings of the image analysis, including pre-processing results, statistical land cover changes, and a discussion on the socio-economic factors driving urban sprawl.

Chapter five: Conclusion and Recommendation: Summarizes the key findings regarding urban growth in Erbil and offers recommendations for future planning and policy intervention.

Keywords

Urban Growth, Land Use, Remote Sensing, Landsat 5 TM, GIS, Supervised Classification, Erbil City, Spatio-Temporal, Urban Expansion, Change Detection, Kurdistan, Maximum Likelihood Classifier, Land Cover, Spatial Patterns, Urban Planning.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the fundamental focus of this research?

This research focuses on monitoring and analyzing the spatio-temporal dynamics of urban growth and land use changes in Erbil city, Kurdistan, over the span of 1987 to 2011.

2. What are the key thematic areas addressed?

The work covers urban expansion, land cover transformation, the relationship between socio-economic/political factors and urbanization, and the efficacy of remote sensing techniques in mapping these changes.

3. What is the primary research goal?

The primary goal is to identify the spatial patterns and quantify the rates of urban land use changes, specifically examining how different land classes like vegetation and open land were converted into built-up areas.

4. Which scientific methodology is applied?

The study utilizes an integrated GIS and remote sensing approach, specifically employing multi-date Landsat 5 TM imagery, Tasseled Cap (TC) transformation, and a supervised maximum likelihood classification method.

5. What is covered in the main section?

The main sections discuss the application of remote sensing for urban classification, the statistical results of land cover change across three study years, and a discussion linking these findings to Iraq's unique political and economic history.

6. Which keywords best characterize this work?

The study is best characterized by keywords such as Urban Growth, Land Use, Remote Sensing, GIS, Landsat, Erbil, and Spatio-Temporal Analysis.

7. Why was Erbil chosen as the specific study area?

Erbil was chosen because it has experienced dramatic and rapid urban growth triggered by significant socio-economic and political variations, making it a critical case study for urban development planning.

8. How does the study validate its classification results?

The study employs accuracy assessment using error matrices and the Kappa coefficient, comparing classified imagery against reference data to ensure the reliability of the urban land cover maps.