Analysis and Forecasting of Physical Developments in Peri-urban Rural Settlements of Mashhad Metropolitan Area Privacy

 Land use is a dynamic phenomenon whose temporal and spatial changes are caused by human pressures and development. Knowledge of how to use user changes and their causes and factors over a period of time can be of great interest to planners and managers. The present study seeks to evaluate and extend eight sample villages in Mashhad during 2001-2019 and then predict changes to 2031 and 2046.

The research method is descriptive-analytical and it is applied in terms of the purpose. The required data were obtained through the documentary method; and Landsat 7 ETM + satellites (2001 and 2007) and Landsat 8 OLI satellites (2013 and 2019) were used to map land use and survey changes in the study area. After supervised classification of images with maximum similarity algorithm, Markov chain model was used to investigate land use changes in sample villages. Also, the CA Markov model and the Kappa index were used to predict the trend of changes up to 2031 and 2046 for confidence in classification.

The results showed that most of the user change occurred in the built ranges, and land use has increased sharply, and land and garden land use has fallen sharply, with 1008.67 hectares (241.57%) and 32.28 hectares of unused lands and 1060.55 hectares of fields and orchards, respectively. These changes were more frequent in the villages of Hossein Abad Gharqi, Georgian Sefli and Ghale Siah (Black Castle). According to Markov’s Model, the built area in 2031 and 2046 will change by 110.77% and 113.18%, respectively. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent unauthorized expansion of Mashhad and surrounding villages to gardens and agricultural lands with proper planning.

For the first time, the process of land use changes in rural settlements, especially peri-urban settlements, is studied and predicted by satellite imagery.