Mapping Urban Land Transformation in Dehradun City, Uttarakhand, India (2001-2025): A Remote Sensing and Land Transformation Analysis

The modern world is the absolute example of an urbanized world. The pace of urbanization keeps on constantly varying the physical dimension of an urban area, changing the spatial distribution of its built-up area, green cover and various other land use classes. The present research examines the transformation in the urban land use pattern in Dehradun city, Uttarakhand, from 2001 to 2025, using multi-temporal satellite data and remote sensing as well as GIS technology. Landsat satellite data acquired from USGS (earthexplorer.usgs.gov), was used to prepare LULC maps for two study years. The LULC classes were categorised as built-up area, agriculture, Barren Land and vegetation. The results indicate an increase in built-up area from 63.0675 km2 in 2001 to 112.5495 km2 in 2025, whereas the vegetated area declined from 67.73 km2 in 2001 to 38.103 km2 in 2025. The kappa coefficient of 0.81 for 2001 and 0.88 for 2025 shows the reliability of the generated LULC maps. The Land transformation matrix quantifies the class-to-class transitions. The findings provide a geospatial foundation for comprehending the transforming land cover of Dehradun city over the study period and contributes to proper urban land use planning.