Study of Change Detection in Urban Growth of Kuwait City

Abstract

Kuwait City has witnessed rapid urban development, with a clear change in land use in Kuwait City during the last period. In the second half of the twentieth century, Kuwait witnessed an urban development due to the economic boom and the discovery of oil. This development is accompanied by a huge increase in the number of residents and Incoming; Resulting in an increase in economic and urban activities, and one of the most affected areas of Kuwait City. This research aims to study the urban growth of Kuwait City using aerial photographs and high-resolution satellite imagery. The study is based on the first two aerial photographs for the years 1976 with a spatial resolution of 1.5 meters and the second for 1991 with a spatial resolution of 60 cm and two satellite imagery (IKONOS) for 2000 by 1 meter and the second for the satellite (WorldView-2) for 2011 at 50 cm. spatial resolution. The results showed that there is significant changes in the land use of Kuwait City during the period from 1976 to 2011, where the area of residential use decreased for other uses by 9.4%, while the area of commercial use increased slightly by 0.2%. Governmental use increased by 5.1%. Green areas witnessed an increase of 7.3%. While parking increased by 4.7%. The increase in roads was about 2.8%. Most of the land in the city is unused, and it is an area of space. There has been a change in the coast of the city as a result of landfill work. The area of landfill to city coast reached 0.55 km². The study recommended the use of land space in the future urban expansion rather than re-fills the coast and reconsiders some uses and work to exploit them to suit the city center.