Spatiotemporal analysis of land use/cover change pattern and population growth in Ngawi Regency

Abstract

Many factors drive land use and land cover change (LULC) including biophysical and socio-economic conditions. Since Ngawi Regency is one of the areas passed by the toll road, in this study we selected Ngawi as the study area to provide an understanding of the land use/cover dynamics caused by economic factors. This study aims to (1) analyse the distribution of land use/cover change before and after the toll road exists and (2) investigate its relationship with population growth. Data on land use/cover was visually interpreted from satellite imageries (2012 and 2020). Population data was taken from the regional statistics bureau. LULC was detected using a Geographic Information System (GIS). The results show that rice fields dominated land use (44.43% and 42.71% of all existing land use in 2012 and 2020, respectively). A land conversion from a rice field to a toll road has been observed covering 45.45 Ha. Although there was an increase in population from 2012 to 2015, the population number gradually decreased from 2016 to 2020. This result indicates that despite the existence of a toll road, it has less relation to the population dynamic in the study area in which other factors may play a role.