Urban sprawl assessment using time-series LULC and NDVI variation: a case study of Sepang, Malaysia

Rapid urbanization that caused urban sprawl is a major worldwide concern. In this study an assessment of urban sprawl was carried out based on Land Use Land Cover (LULC), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) variation in Sepang, Malaysia. The land cover classification consisted of Built-up Area (BUA), Vegetation Area (VA), Open Space Area (OSA), and Water Bodies (WB) from 1990 to 2018. Supervised classification based on maximum likelihood techniques were used to identify the land use classes. Based on the analysis of LULC, the majority of VA (i.e. forest field) was transformed into OSA and gradually the land was converted into BUA. Observation within 25 years, supported by NDVI and NDBI has discovered a consistent increase of BUA while contrastingly a decline of VA, while WB and OSA are suspected to have inconsistently varying highs and lows. This study has demonstrated that urban sprawl caused by rapid urbanization has not favour the population. Without proper planning and growth control, urban sprawl in Sepang would have undesirable consequences to the quality of life and the environment. Therefore, comprehensive land use and progressive environmental change can serve as prognostic measures to mitigate urban sprawl, and to achieve sustainable urbanization and to carry out effective planning and decision making