Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Morphology Distribution and Monitoring of Land Use Change in Yazd

Land use planning is the most important issue of sustainable urban development and a major priority in urban planning. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the extent of physical expansion of Yazd city, identifying the land use changes to urban use and determining the city growth directions during the years 2013 to 2018, using Landsat 8 satellite imagery over a time period of 5 years for Yazd city. Using the technique of detection of changes by comparative method after classification of images, changes in green space and moor lands were identified for urban use. Then, regional statistics techniques were used to determine the extent of city expansion and the nature of changes were obtained in different geographical directions. From 2013 to 2018, based on the results, 24.73% of the moor lands and 32.22% of the green area has had urban use. The growth of the city during this period were towards the East and South directions in the central and southern sectors in the marginal sector. The greatest amounts of green space changed to urban use were in the central and peripheral sectors, and the largest conversions of the moor land to urban use were in the central eastern region and in the southern marginal sector. The results showed that inappropriate distribution of applications in some parts of the city disrupted the spatial distribution of the land use.