SPATIO-TEMPORAL ANALYSIS OF URBAN GROWTH IN AIZAWL CITY, MIZORAM

Urban growth and land use land cover changes have been increasing recently due to growing population and infrastructure development. The study examined the urban growth in Aizawl city from 1991 to 2021 using remote sensing and GIS. Land use land cover of Aizawl city has been examined using supervised classification, and acquired data has been utilized to analyse urban growth within the study area. The study reveals that the land use and land cover of Aizawl city has been changing rapidly due to urban growth. The declining forest cover (-19.92 km2) with increasing urban land (16.42km2) and agricultural land (3.74 km2), clearly define transformation of land use classes due to urbanization. The total increased of urban area with 16.01 per cent highlights a clear expansion and directional trend of the urban area indicating considerable changes in the distribution of urban growth. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between land use and land cover, and urban growth providing a foundation for future studies and practical applications in monitoring and planning sustainable cities.