Investigating the impact of urban growth on land use using spatial autocorrelation methods in Konya/Türkiye

Abstract

Land use land cover (LULC) change, global environmental change, and sustainable change are frequently discussed topics in research at the moment. It is important to determine the historical LULC change process for effective environmental planning and the most appropriate use of land resources. This study analysed the spatial autocorrelation of the land use structure in Konya between 1990 and 2018. For this, Global and Local Moran's I indices based on land use data from 122 neighbourhoods and hot spot analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) methods were applied to measure the spatial correlation of changes and to determine statistically significant hot and cold spatial clusters. According to the research results, the growth of urban areas has largely destroyed the most productive agricultural lands in the region. This change showed high spatial clustering both on an area and a proportional basis in the northern and southern parts of the city. On the other hand, the growth in the industrial area suppressed the pasture areas the most in the north-eastern region of the city, and this region showed high spatial clustering on both spatial and proportional scales.