Change in land use-land cover and population dynamics: A town-level Study of Ahmedabad city sub-District of Gujarat

Change in Land Use-Land cover (LULC) is a worldwide phenomenon. However, in certain places, the rate of change is expeditious, particularly because of increasing population and urbanization within a limited space. This study encompasses analysis of LULC change during the last two decades and its association with population parameters in one of the leading metro cities in India, i.e. Ahmedabad City sub-district in Gujarat state in India. This study has used the Landsat images for LULC change detection and Census data of the same time period, to indicate the association of the total population, workforce, number of households, literacy, and caste stratification with LULC change. The peripheral change is observed maximum, with a high correlation of total and working population, indicating a shift of core to periphery expansion in Ahmedabad City sub-district. Planners need to target environmental policies for the western side of the Sabarmati River, experiencing speedy change.