SPATIAL GRADIENT ANALYSIS OF URBAN GREEN SPACES COMBINED WITH LANDSCAPE METRICS IN JINAN CITY OF CHINA

Urban green spaces have been arisen growing concern responded to the social and environmental costs of urban sprawl. A wide range of planning and policies has been and/or will be designed to protect urban green spaces and optimize their spatial pattern. A better design or planning of urban green space can make a major contribution to quality of environment and urban life, and furthermore can decide whether we can have a sustainable development in the urban area. Information about the status quo of urban green spaces can help planners design more effectively. However, how to quantify and capture such information will be the essential question we face. In this paper, to quantify the urban green space, a new method comprising gradient analysis, landscape metrics and GIS was developed through a case of Jinan City. The results demonstrate: 1) the gradient analysis is a valid and reliable instrument to quantify the urban green space spatial pattern precisely; 2) using moving window, explicit landscape metrics were spatially realized. Compared with quantifying metrics in the entire landscape, it would be better to link pattern with process and establish an important basis for analyzing the ecological and socioeconomic functions of green spaces.

Analysis of temporal changes in land cover and landscape metrics of a managed forest in the west Black Sea region of northern Turkey: 1970–2010

Forest structure changes continuously by natural and anthropogenic effects. Because the level of goods and services provided by forest ecosystems are related to this structure, some attributes have to be controlled while they are being managed. In this paper we describe the long-term temporal changes in land area and landscape metrics related to different land uses of a managed forest in Turkey. The study was carried out for the Daday Forest Planning Unit located in the west Black Sea region of northern Turkey. The total area is 16,813 ha and besides wood production, it is managed for erosion control, public health, aesthetics, and recreation. Stand type maps that were constructed in 1970,1989, 1999, and 2010 were used in this analysis. Transition matrixes that illustrate area changes among cover types and temporal changes on some landscape metrics were obtained using Geographic Information Systems. Stands were separated into small patches, and thus the number of patches increased nearly two-fold between 1970 and 2010. The total forest edge increased and through the associated fragmentation, the amount of core forest area decreased at the landscape scale. Landscape metrics were applied to digitized versions of historical maps to assess how forest area changed. Human use of the land has changed, forest management practices have evolved, and these along with natural forest growth have contributed to interesting changes in landscape character.

Remote Sensing and Landscape Metrics-Based Forest Physical Degradation: Two-Decades Assessment in Gishwati-Mukura Biological Corridor in Rwanda, East-Central Africa

The management of forest corridors and related ecology is one of the effective strategies to minimize the adverse effects of forest degradation. It controls the connectivity of inhabitant species and the connection of the isolated patches. This study analyzed spatial and temporal forest physical degradation based on forest cover change and forest fragmentation in the Gishwati-Mukura biological corridor from 1990-2019. Remotely sensed datasets, Geographical Information System (GIS) and FRAGSTATS software were used to analyze the spatial and temporal physical degradation and changes in forest cover. The results indicated that the Gishwati-Mukura corridor experienced massive deforestation where approximately 7617.1 ha (64.22%) of forest cover was completely cleared out, which implies an annual forest loss of 262.6 ha·year-1 (2.21%) during 1990-2019. The forest cover transitions patterns and geostatistical analysis indicated that extensive deforestation was associated with intensive agriculture. The results demonstrated that agriculture has dramatically increased from 29.46% in 1990 to 57.22% in 2019, with an annual increase of 1.97%. Since Gishwati-Mukura has changed to National Park (NP), it lacks diversified scientific studies addressing the analysis of the remote and spatial patterns to investigate its physical degradation and landscape dynamics. This research study will serve as remote forest analysis gap-filling and as the cornerstone of numerous other research that will contribute to the improvement of the connectivity assessments along the Gishwati-Mukura corridor and other related ecosystems.

Simulating land use change by integrating landscape metrics into ANN-CA in a new way

Landscape metrics are measurements of land- use patterns and land-use change, but even so, have rarely been integrated into land-use change simulation models. This paper proposes a new artificial neural network- cellular automaton by integrating landscape metrics into the model. In this model, each cell acquires unique landscape metric values. The landscape metric values of each cell are actually the landscape metric values of land use type in its neighborhood, which takes the cell as center. The calculation of landscape metrics ensures that those of each cell can represent cellular spatial environmental characteristics. The model is used to simulate land use change in the Changping district of Beijing, China. Comparisons of the simulated land use map with the actual map show that the proposed model is effective for land use change simulation. The validation is further carried out by comparing the simulated land use map with that simulated by an artificial neural network-cellular automaton model, which has not been integrated with landscape metrics. Results indicate that the proposed model is more appropriate for simulating both quantity and spatial distribution of land use change in the study area.

Impacts of Park Landscape Structure on Thermal Environment Using QuickBird and Landsat Images

Urban parks composed mostly of vegetation and water bodies can effectively mitigate the urban heat island effect. Many studies have investigated the cooling effects of urban parks; however, little attention has been given to park landscape structure. Based on landscape metrics, this study has explored the influences of the park landscape structure on its inner thermal environment, taking heavily urbanized Beijing Municipality in China as the study area. Three indices, including the percentage of landscape （PLAND）, landscape shape index （LSI） and aggregation index （AI）, were used to measure the composition and configuration characteristics of the landscape components inside the parks. The indices were calculated for five landscape types being interpreted from Quickbird images. Urban thermal conditions were measured using the land surface temperature （LST） derived from Landsat TM images. The results showed that the park LST had a negative relationship with the park size, but no significant relationship was found with park shape. For the park＇s interior landscape, however, the configuration and composition characteristics of the landscape components inside the park explained 70% of the park LST variance. The area percentage of water bodies and the aggregation index of woodland were identified as the key influencing characteristics. In addition, when the composition and configuration characteristics of the park landscape components were separately considered, the configuration characteristics （LSI and A1） explained approximately 54% of the variance in park LST, which was comparable with that explained by the composition characteristics （PLAND）. Thus, this study suggested that an effective and practical way for urban cooling park design is the optimization of spatial configuration of landscape components inside the park.

Road Centrality and Landscape Spatial Patterns in Wuhan Metropolitan Area,China

Road network is a corridor system that interacts with surrounding landscapes,and understanding their interaction helps to develop an optimal plan for sustainable transportation and land use.This study investigates the relationships between road centrality and landscape patterns in the Wuhan Metropolitan Area,China.The densities of centrality measures,including closeness,betweenness,and straightness,are calculated by kernel density estimation(KDE).The landscape patterns are characterized by four landscape metrics,including percentage of landscape(PLAND),Shannon′s diversity index(SHDI),mean patch size(MPS),and mean shape index(MSI).Spearman rank correlation analysis is then used to quantify their relationships at both landscape and class levels.The results show that the centrality measures can reflect the hierarchy of road network as they associate with road grade.Further analysis exhibit that as centrality densities increase,the whole landscape becomes more fragmented and regular.At the class level,the forest gradually decreases and becomes fragmented,while the construction land increases and turns to more compact.Therefore,these findings indicate that the ability and potential applications of centrality densities estimated by KDE in quantifying the relationships between roads and landscapes,can provide detailed information and valuable guidance for transportation and land-use planning as well as a new insight into ecological effects of roads.

Characterization of landscape pattern based on land economic niche change: A case study in Ganzhou,Gansu Province, China

Land use change has a profound impact on biodiversity and ecological processes, and is closely related to changes in landscape patterns. This paper introduces the theory and method of land economic niche into landscape ecology, which provides a new method for spatial characterization of urban and rural spatial landscape patterns. Based on this theory, this paper analyzes the landscape pattern of Ganzhou District by using Landsat images as data source in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015. We calculated the land economic niche by applying the niche potential theory. Combined with the theory of landscape ecology, we explored the effects of the land economic niche change on the landscape pattern at a county scale. The results show that economic niche of construction land, watershed and farmland increased during 1995-2015, and grassland declined significantly. The economic niche of farmland, construction land, watershed and grassland show a negative correlation with the number of patches （NP）, fragmentation index （FN） and the fractal dimension index （FD）, and had a positive correlation with the aggregation index （AI）. There was no significant correlation between the forest land economic niche and landscape metrics. The change of land economic niche has a driving effect on the landscape pattern of the county, which can represent the economic development direction of Ganzhou District. The land economic niche is closely related to the landscape type which can directly obtain an economic benefit.

Spatial pattern analysis of forest landscape in Changbai Mountain

Land use and land cover change is one of the important topics in the global change study with the development of satellite-based remote sensing technologies.This study employed 3D landscape pattern metrics to analyze the dynamics of land cover types around Heaven Lake in Changbai Mountain area from 2010 to 2015.The results indicated that forest land occupied the most proportion and increased from 61.9%in 2010 to 66%in 2015 due to government forest protection policy.The mean elevation of vegetation,including agriculture,fo-rest,grass and shrub was much lower compared with other land cover types(water,wetland,imperious land and bare land)in both 2010 and 2015.The elevation of agriculture land increased from 1700 m in 2010 to 1890 m in 2015 a decreased land proportion.Considering the adjacent relationship between the local agriculture land and forest land,the transformation from agriculture land to forest land was obvious in the lower elevation area.The study showed that the selected 3D landscape pattern metrics had the ability and efficiency to describe the spatiotemporal variations of mountainous landscape,and significant correlation existed between land cover and local terrain.

Reconciling Landscape Fragmentation and Hippopotamuses Population Decrease in Virunga National Park Wetland

Wetlands have been noted to be beneficial worldwide. Despite wetlands being a natural asset that is of great significance to the human community, they are threatened by human and natural events. In Virunga National Park (VNP) wetlands are the habitat of Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) which are among the animal species threatened by extinction in VNP since the past few decades. As shown by the last studies the number of Hippos population declined for 96% for the period of less than 40 years. This study evaluated landscape fragmentation status and its implication on the decline of the hippos population in VNP wetland for the period from 1990 to 2018. This study’s land cover data was obtained using remote sensing techniques with the help of software package ERDAS IMAGINE v16.6 and ArcGIS v10.3. It was mapped and classified using the maximum likelihood supervised classification technique. The landscape was classified into seven classes, which included Cropland, Forest, grassland, wetland, scrubland, bare area, and water. Satellite data (Landsat) was used to evaluate NDVI and NDWI and finally the landscape patterns in the study were analyzed using Fragstats 4.2, which was also used to calculate landscape indices for the respective periods. The results obtained from the LULC, NDVI, NDWI and the landscape metrics showed that during the period of our study the VNP wetland was fragmented. A strong negative correlation between the number of hippos and the wetland’s LFI (Landscape Fragmentation Index) values showed that wetland fragmentation was one of the reasons of the decline of Hippos in the park.

A voxel-based fine-scale 3D landscape pattern analysis using laser scanner point clouds

The landscape pattern metrics can quantitatively describe the characteristics of landscape pattern and are widely used in various fields of landscape ecology.Due to the lack of vertical information,2D landscape metrics cannot delineate the vertical characteristics of landscape pattern.Based on the point clouds,a high-resolution voxel model and several voxel-based 3D landscape metrics were constructed in this study and 3D metrics calculation results were compared with that of 2D metrics.The results showed that certain quantifying difference exists between 2D and 3D landscape metrics.For landscapes with different components and spatial configurations,significant difference was disclosed between 2D and 3D landscape metrics.3D metrics can better reflect the real spatial structure characteristics of the landscape than 2D metrics.

Identifying Landscape Pattern Metrics for the Hani Terrace in Yunnan, China

This study seeks to isolate a select group of landscape metrics particularly well-suited for describing the Hani Terrace in southwest of China.We examined the response of 47 landscape metrics to a large range of imagery grain sizes.Based on a correlation analysis,the original 47 metrics were placed into 21 groups such that all metrics within a group were strongly correlated with each other with a value of more than 0.9,and were represented by a single descriptor.Using these cross-sectional metrics in the context of principal components analysis,we found that five factors explained almost 93％ of the total variation in the landscape pattern.The highest loadings for these five factors were the Splitting index （SPLIT）,Patch area distribution （AREA_CV）,Shannon＇s diversity index （SHDI）,Euclidean nearest neighbor distance distribution （ENN_AM）,and Total core area （TCA）,respectively.Considering the real landscape,we added the Patch fractal dimension distribution （FRAC_MN） as the sixth landscape pattern metric.As the scale effect of landscape pattern metrics we design to investigate how a suite of commonly use landscape metrics respond to changing grain size.Based on the anlasis,we determined that the best domain of scale to characterise the Hani Terrace pattern metrics is between 40m and 45m.Through the fractal method,we found that the characteristic scale of the Hani Terrace is the same as the scale domain of metrics,among the 40m and 45m.We suggest that the majority of the patterns in the Hani Terrace landscapes,indeed for all those in southwest China,can be described effectively with these six metrics.

Land Use Change and Anthropogenic Driving Forces:A Case Study in Yanhe River Basin

Human activities alter land use patterns and affect landscape sustainability. It is therefore very important to investigate the relationship between land use change and human activities. This study focuses on the detection of changing land use patterns in the Yanhe River Basin in northern Loess Plateau of China between 1995 and 2008. Landscape metrics were used to analyze the changing land use patterns and to explore the related anthropogenic driving forces. Results show that:1) Totally, 186 590 ha of croplands were converted into alternate land-use types (equivalent to 61.7% of the original cropland area). The majority of cropland areas were found to be converted into grassland and woodland areas (accounting for 55.9% and 4.9% respectively of the original cropland areas). 2) Both cropland and woodland demonstrated an increasing fragmentation tendency while grasslands showed a decreasing fragmentation tendency. 3) Multiple driving forces of land use change were thought to act together to changes in landscape metrics in the Yanhe River Basin. The anthropogenic driving forces were analyzed from four perspectives:ecological conservation policy, labor force transfer, industrial development, and rural settlement. The policy of the GfG (Grain for Green) project was the main driving factor which expedited the conversion from cropland to woodland and grassland. Industrial development was also found to affect land use change through the direct impact of economic activities such as oil exploration and agricultural production, or through indirect impacts such as the industrial structures readjustment. Labor force transfer from rural to urban areas was found to follow the industrial structure readjustment and further drove land use change from cropland to off-farm land use. Establishment of new tile-roofed houses instead of cave-type dwellings in rural settlements has helped to aggregate the original scattered land-use type of construction.

Spatial Process of Green Infrastructure Changes Associated with Rapid Urbanization in Shenzhen,China

Through a case study of Shenzhen City,China,this study focused on a quantitative method for analyzing the spatial processes involved in green infrastructure changes associated with rapid urbanization.Based on RS,GIS and SPSS statistics software,the approach includes selection of the square analysis units and representative landscape metrics,quantification of the change types of landscape metrics in all analysis units through two indices and hierarchical cluster analysis of the above analysis units with different landscape metric change types(i.e.spatial attributes).The analyses verify that there is a significant sequence of continuous changes in green infrastructure in Shenzhen.They are the perforation,the segmentation,the fragmentation,the evanescence and the filling-in processes,which have a good spatio-temporal correspondence with urbanization and reflect the synthetic influence of urban planning,government policies and landforms.Compared with other studies on quantifying the spatial pattern,this study provides an alternative probe into linking the spatial pattern to spatial processes and the corresponding ecological processes in the future.These spatio-temporal processes offer many opportunities for identifying,protecting and restoring key elements in an urban green infrastructure network for areas in the early stages of urbanization or for non-urbanized areas.

Land Use and Land Cover Change on Slope in Qiandongnan Prefecture of Southwest China

This study uses DEM （Digital Elevation Model） data and remote sensing maps of the study area in 1993, 1999, and 2009 to analyze the slope gradient change of land use patterns in Qiandongnan Prefecture, Guizhou province, China. The land use data were classified into five types, forest, farmland, grassland, water and built-up, the slope gradients were divided into four grades. Indices for analyzing land use features were defined by their proportions, transformation matrixes, land use degree and changes The results showed that all land use types can be found at every gradient. Generally, with the slope degree increased, the area of forest being augmented as well, while the area of the other land use types （farmland, grassland and build-up） declined. Moreover, a mass of farmland were shifted from other land use types from o° to 25°, while a quantity of forest were transformed from the other land use types on 〉 25° from 2993 to 2009. In terms of land use degree and changes, the area of farmland and buildup land use types decreased when slope degree increased. Finally, we calculated the five landscape pattern metrics： Patch Density （PD） value, Largest Patch Index （LPI）, Shannon＇s Diversity Index （SHDI）, Area-Weighted Mean Shape Index （AWMSI） and Contagion Index （CONTAG）. The results of metricsanalysis showed that PD values, SHDI values and CONTA values had a similar variation trend, that is, they decreased when slope degree increased. There was no obvious variation trend on LPI value.

Assessing sediment connectivity and its spatial response on land use using two flow direction algorithms in the catchment on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Severe soil and water loss have led to widespread land degradation on the Loess Plateau in China.Exploring the relationship between land use and sediment connectivity can be beneficial to control soil erosion.In this study,three catchments in the Yanhe River Basin on the Loess Plateau were selected to analyse the relationship between land use and sediment connectivity using grey correlation method.Index of connectivity(IC)was employed to quantify sediment connectivity,including two flow direction algorithms(D8 and D-infinity)and two final targets of sediment transport(outlet and main channel of catchment).Then,11 landscape metrics were used to evaluate the land use spatial patterns of catchments.By comparing the IC value ranges,histograms and classes,and their relationship with remote sensing images of the two flow direction algorithms,we find that the D8 algorithm is more suitable for this study area.The results showed that the three catchments are characterized by high sediment connectivity in the grassland and forest close to the channel.In addition,the roads and bare land close to the channel also have high or medium sediment connectivity.Grey correlation analysis showed that landscape division index(DIVISION),fractal dimension index(FRACMN),aggregation index(AI),total class area,patch cohesion index(COHESION),and largest patch index(LPI)indices were the main factors that affect sediment connectivity at the class scale.At the landscape scale,the landscape shape index(LSI),Shannon’s diversity index(SHDI),and gully density have an essential effect on sediment connectivity.This condition provides a way to control the sediment connectivity in the watershed by transforming land use type or changing its spatial pattern,but specific adjustment measures have to be further explored.

An Approach to Environmental Planning and Sustainable Management of Watersheds and Municipalities in Southeastern Brazil

Diagnosis of fragmentation and landscape sustainability conditions are essential to environmental planning and sustainable management of natural resources. Land use spatial patterns and landscape structural indexes (landscape metrics, Urbanity Index— UI, and Landscape Vulnerability Index—LVI) have been proposed to assess biodiversity conservation and ecological sustainability, provided by impact of land use at Middle Mogi Gua&#231u watershed and its seventeen municipalities, in 2009. Land use typologies and structural indexes values were obtained based on screen digitizing of LandSat-5 imagery, for 2009. Cluster analysis and Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance were used to test the null hypothesis of equal degrees of fragmentation and sustainability conditions among municipalities in 2009, respectively. Land use spatial pattern showed a predominantly human occupation for watershed and its municipalities, with agricultural use as the main pressure factor. Municipalities were aggregated into three clusters related to forest fragmentation: one categorized by fifteen municipalities;the second cluster (municipality of Luiz Ant&#244nio) showing the best condition, and the third group (municipality of Araraquara) with extreme fragmentation condition. Landscape metrics related with shape, size, and core areas fragments intensify edge effects, and increase habitat isolation. The watershed showed a low naturalness and an intermediate degree of vulnerability. Ecological sustainability was different among municipalities (α = 0.05, F = 32.65 and p = 0.002), with two municipalities (Analandia and Luiz Ant&#244nio) presenting the best conditions. The most committed condition was observed, in municipalities of Rinc&#227o and Guatapará. For conservation policies to be effective must focus on the creation of ecological corridors around legally protected areas, besides creation of new legal reserves, with purpose to improve biodiversity conservation and ecological sustainability of Middle Mogi Gua&#231u watershed and its municipalities.

Application of Remote Sensing Detection and GIS in Analysis of Vegetation Pattem Dynamics in the Yellow River Delta

Regional vegetation pattern dynamics has a great impact on ecosystem and climate change. Remote sensing data and geographical information system （GIS） analysis were widely used in the detection of vegetation pattern dynamics. In this study, the Yellow River Delta was selected as the study area. By using 1986, 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2005 remote sensing data as basic information resource, with the support of GIS, a wetland vegetation spatial information dataset was built up. Through selecting the landscape metrics such as class area （CA）, class percent of landscape （PL）, number of patch （NP）, largest patch index （LPI） and mean patch size （MPS） etc., the dynamics of vcgetation pattern was analyzed. The result showed that the change of vegetation pattern is significant from 1986 to 2005. From 1986-1999, the area of the vegetation, the percent of vegetation, LPI and MPS decreased, the NP increased, the vegetation pattern tends to be fragmental. The decrease in vegetation area may well be explained by the fact of the nature environment evolution （Climate change and decrease in Yellow River runoff） and the increase in the population in the Yellow River Delta. However, from 1999 2005, the area of the vegetation, the percent of vegetation, LPI and MPS increased, while the NP decreased. This trend of restoration may be due to the implementation of water resources regulation for the Yellow River Delta since 1999.

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Urban Growth in Island Region from a Multi-scale Perspective: a Case Study of Zhoushan Island,China

The intensified conflict between island urbanization and lagging supervision deserves special attention worldwide.Zhoushan Island has been an outstanding center of marine economic development in China but also one of the areas most threatened by recent human activities.To cope with this challenge,the development of a retrospective understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of island urban growth is a key prerequisite.Detailed,multi-scales,long-term studies on island urban expansion are relatively rare.Remote sensing data,landscape metrics,and spatial statistics were used to characterize the urban landscape changes during the years from 1980 to 2013.Then,the potential determinants of island urban expansion were analyzed by integrating socioeconomic drivers,population factors,topographic variables,and policy guidance.The results indicate that Zhoushan Island has experienced a considerable urban expansion with an evident acceleration during the last period.Landscape changes in response to urban expansion varied with time,region,and scale.A general understanding of landscape metrics failed to reveal accurate dynamics for the urban landscape at a local level.At a block size of1 km,the urban landscape was more compact around the island urban center and the new developing zone,in contrast to the extensive and scattered pattern present across the entire region.Urban land primarily expanded from the urban center to the coastal regions due to topographic constraints and support from policy and economic benefits.The potential impact of the population factor decreased with urban growth,a finding that differs from several previous studies.The island urban dynamics observed in this study involved characteristics and differences that will guide future planning decisions and will provide a scientific case for urban development and sustainability with respect to islands and coastal regions in China.

Plant-pollinator metanetworks in fragmented landscapes:a simulation study

Background The topology of the plant-pollinator network can be explained by the species’abundance and their random interactions.Plant-pollinator networks can be studied in the context of a landscape,because each patch can accommodate a certain local network.Local populations of pollinators in the landscape can be connected through migration and then constitute a metanetwork that is known as a combination of spatial and ecological networks.In this regard,habitat fragmentation can affect the topology of plant-pollinator metanetworks through changes in the species abundance and limiting their interactions.However,it is not clear what pattern(fragmented or aggregated)of the landscape structure can accommodate networks with a higher degree of specialization.Methods we created simulated landscapes with different forest proportions scenarios(from 5%to 50%of the total landscape)and degrees of fragmentation.Then,for each landscape,we limited the proportion of pollinators to the forest patch.We assumed that plants and pollinators are randomly distributed around the landscape and interact randomly.We used landscape metrics to measure different aspects of landscape structure and bipartite metrics for calculating the degree of specialization in plant-pollinator networks.Results The statistical relationship between bipartite and landscape metrics showed that the relationship between the topology of plant-pollinator networks and the landscape structure is affected by the forest amount in the landscape and the degree of forest fragmentation.We also found that according to the nestedness and H2(a measure of specialization)metrics,fragmented landscapes contain more general plant-pollinator networks.Conclusions Our findings suggest that fragmented landscapes,characterized by scattered forest patches,can promote higher levels of interaction between limited pollinators and diverse flowers,leading to more general plant-pollinator networks.

Changes of Residential Land Density and Spatial Pattern from 1989 to 2004 in Jinan City,China

Urban sprawl is driven by a myriad of factors, the predominant one of which is the development of residential land. Selecting part of Jinan City for a case study, we use the landscape metric of percent of landscape (PLAND) to capture residential land growth and density changes in 1989, 1996 and 2004 to illuminate the dynamic process of residential land development. The results indicate that the moving window method and the landscape metrics method are efficient ways to describe residential land density. The residential land showed the greatest change among the built-up land with 1995.68 ha from 1989 to 2004, which is mainly transformed from agriculture land and green space. The urban center area of study area is primarily covered with medium density residential land, and surrounded by high density residential land. The development pattern of residential land exhibited both fill-in (new growth occurs through infilling the free spaces within the developed area) and sprawl processes, influenced by a series of factors, such as urban development policy, conservation of springs, recreational and aesthetic amenities. The findings of the study will help to guide urban planning with a focus on the management and protection of the environment and resources.