Abstract
In 1986, the Government of Vietnam implemented free market reforms known as Doi Moi (renovation) that provided private ownership of farms and companies, and encouraged deregulation and foreign investment. Since then, the economy of Vietnam has achieved rapid growth in agricultural and industrial production, construction and housing, and exports and foreign investments, each of which have resulted in momentous landscape transformations. One of the most evident changes is urbanization and an accompanying loss of agricultural lands and open spaces. These rapid changes pose enormous challenges for local populations as well as planning authorities. Accurate and timely data on changes in built-up urban environments are essential for supporting sound urban development. In this study, we applied the Support Vector Machine classification (SVM) to multi-temporal stacks of Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) images from 1993 to 2010 to quantify changes in built-up areas. The SVM classification algorithm produced a highly accurate map of land cover change with an overall accuracy of 95%. The study showed that most urban expansion occurred in the periods 2001–2006 and 2006–2010. The analysis was strengthened by the incorporation of population and other socio-economic data. This study provides state authorities a means to examine correlations between urban growth, spatial expansion, and other socio-economic factors in order to not only assess patterns of urban growth but also become aware of potential environmental, social, and economic problems.
Highlights
Massive urbanization began to accelerate in Asia in the 1980s and is expected to continue over the several decades
We investigate the pattern and form of urban growth and expansion in the greater Hanoi metropolitan region by using Landsat data to map built-up areas that existed before 1993 and that occurred during three time periods
The Support Vector Machine classification (SVM) classification of Hanoi resulted in high overall accuracies ranging from 93.85% to 95.37% among the various land-cover classes
Summary
Massive urbanization began to accelerate in Asia in the 1980s and is expected to continue over the several decades. Because Asia is highly populous and has experienced sustained economic growth since the 1980s, its urbanization has given birth to some of the largest and densest cities in the world [1]. The urban population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate and is projected to increase by 45% by 2020, which translates to more than 30 million urban residents [4]. This remarkable achievement has been largely attributed to the ‘Doi Moi’ or ‘renovation’ reforms program initiated in 1986, which introduced liberal market mechanisms encouraging private-sector initiatives while retaining the state’s role as the nation’s strategic planner and enforcer [5]. The introduction of the ‘Doi Moi’ policy in 1986 was a turning point in the economic transformation of
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