Abstract This study aims to delineate peri-urban areas of the Patna Municipal Corporation and analyse their spatial dynamics, land use-land cover (LULC) changes, and key drivers of expansion using geospatial techniques. Satellite imagery for 2001, 2015, and 2025 was pre-processed in ArcGIS 10.8.2 and classified using the Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) algorithm in ERDAS IMAGINE 2015, achieving accuracies above 85%. Future LULC for 2035 was predicted using the MOLUSCE plugin in QGIS 3.42.0 with an Artificial neural network- Cellular Automata model (ANN-CA). Results show built-up area increasing from 9.81 km² in 2001 to 57.51 km² in 2025, and projected to reach 92.04 km² by 2035, indicating a transition from compact to multidirectional urban growth. Directional Shannon’s entropy further reveals a compact-dispersed-compact-semi-dispersed evolution of urban form. Population growth, land price gradients, policy initiatives, and infrastructure development are identified as major drivers of this expansion. The findings offer valuable insights for evidence-based policy, sustainable land-use planning, and integrated spatial strategies to manage rapid peri-urban expansion and guide future development in medium-sized Indian cities, benefiting both policymakers and local communities.
Waza et al. (Tue,) studied this question.