Urban Sprawl and Its Impacts on Land use and Farming Communities in the Periphery of Chancho Town, Oromia National Regional State, Central Ethiopia

Abstract

This thesis' primary goal was to evaluate the effects of urban sprawl on agricultural communities and land usage in the surrounding area of Chancho Town, Central Ethiopia. The term "urban sprawl" describes the dispersion of urban developments on vacant ground close to or below a city. Throughout the research periods, changes in the spatiotemporal urban land use were quantified and analyzed using satellite imagery and spatial tools. The technique of change detection has been used. ArcGIS has been used to acquire and handle Landsat TM for 2003, ETM + for 2013, and OLIRS/TIRS for 2023 satellite data. Maps of land usage and land cover have been created using the Maximum Likelihood Algorithm of Supervised Classification. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the use of descriptive survey design. Narrative analysis was used to examine qualitative data. After being gathered using structured surveys, the quantitative data were arranged, examined, and condensed using tables, charts, graphs, and maps. To get the desired results, 139 sample houses chosen by purposive sampling methods were given a questionnaire. According to the report, Chancho Town's horizontal development has significantly harmed the social, economic, and environmental well-being of the surrounding villages. The satellite image data indicate that over the first, second, and whole study periods, built-up areas rose by 93.34ha (14%), and 470.6ha (41%), respectively in the first, the second and the entire study periods. Throughout the course of the research periods, crop land fell in both the top and second places by 863.72(25%) and 703.57(20%), respectively. Its continued development trajectory is still the principal cause of the depletion of arable land and other priceless natural resources. The study's conclusions showed that throughout the previous 20 years, the built-up area has grown, significantly fragmenting and spreading small, isolated urban pockets while also having an influence on the surrounding natural environment. The study also came to the conclusion that some of Chancho Town's sprawl issues may have been resolved by the efficient enforcement and execution of land use planning and management. One of the suggestions is that human and financial resources be increased, and that the legal framework be constantly reinforced and upheld. As a result, the study's conclusions may help guide decisions on sustainable urban growth and land use planning.