Analysis and assessment of urbanization dynamics: actors and forms of encroachment on the agricultural land of Constantine in eastern Algeria (1985-2020)

Abstract

The environmental concern has increasingly become a focus in recent research on town planning and regional development. This paper discusses the renewed issue of urbanization affecting agricultural land and natural environments, with a new approach combining spatio-temporal monitoring of the evolution of the urban area of the province of Constantine, in relation to the agronomic quality of the land. In this context, the present study is based on the agronomic classification of land in the province of Constantine carried out by BNEDER study office in 1987. In addition, it uses maps extracted from Landsat satellite images for the years 1985, 2000, and 2020, and the annual land use data from the agriculture department (DSA), recorded between the years 2000 and 2020. The results obtained from this approach highlight the negative impact of urbanization over the last two decades in the Constantine agglomeration, as well as the strong vulnerability of natural environments and agricultural soil expected in the coming years. The accelerated pace of land artificialization has led to a significant reduction in agricultural space in the Constantine province. The urbanization of the city of Constantine alone consumed more land in 13 years (between 1987 and 2000) than it had in the twenty-seven years following independence, and more than it had consumed in a century before independence. In the event that public authorities do not take corrective and environmental protection actions, the situation regarding this problem will become more difficult to resolve.