Landuse and landcover changes between the core and peripheral region: A case study of Ghaziabad City

Land use and Land cover is an important fundamental element which is considered in planning and development of any region. Land use and Land cover changes have become a central component in current strategies for managing natural resource and monitoring environmental changes. With the accelerated urbanization process, the urban land use of Ghaziabad city has changed dramatically from the city center towards its peripheral region. During the last few years, several transformations have occurred in Land Use pattern of Ghaziabad city. The development of Ghaziabad city can be divided into four-time line, (i) prior to 1961: industrial development; (ii) 1961-81: Industrial development with thelow-density Residential area; (iii) 1981-2001: Institutional development with themedium density residential area; (iv) 2001-2015: High-density Residential area. The present work mainly focused on land use and land cover changes for the period of 2001-2021. The results showthat the total land has increased from 8,455 hectares to 15,554 hectares, which is almost 200% growth in last 20 years. Although the percentage of the total land use from the residential area went down from 55.03% to 44.84% (2001-2021). But the area in hectare for residential purpose increased by almost 50%, that was 4,670 hectares during 2001, increase about 6,975 hectares in theprojected plan of 2021. Thus the master plan 2021 aims to promote growth and balanced development of Ghaziabad city, to be achieving through providing suitable residential as well as industrial space for future growth.