Analysis of urbanization characteristics causing farmland loss in a rapid growth area using GIS and RS

This study aims to analyze the spatial characteristics of urbanization in a rapid growth area. Remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques were used to classify land uses in 1986 and 1996, the most rapid growth period. The two land-use maps were classified with accuracies of 90% and 86% in verification areas for 1986 and 1996, respectively, by a supervised maximum likelihood method. Urbanization in the greenbelt within the study area was restricted, while outside the greenbelt it occurred rapidly. Fifty seven percent of the total increase in built-up area in the study area was concentrated in a 10-km GIS-defined buffer zone adjacent to the greenbelt. The priority for new residential development was put on areas with slopes of less than 15 degrees and potential farmland in the areas surrounding Seoul. In the priority area, farmland loss was very significant. These results show that although the environmental protection of ecologically valuable land was well enforced by the greenbelt from urbanization, farmland was not conserved in comparison to new residential development in the rapid growth area.