Evolution of land cover over the last decades (1990-2020) in three coastal cities of la plata river, buenos aires, argentina

Coastal areas are suitable sites for the development of cities and usually are occupied by vulnerable population, exposed to natural hazards. Satellite images are a valuable tool for the study of land cover. Three coastal urban areas of the Rio de la Plata with different territorial and population conditions have been selected (Ribera de Quilmes, Punta Lara and Atalaya). Based on satellite images and the application of supervised classification technique, they were selected to identify and analyze the evolution of different land covers emphasizing urban coverage for the period 1990-2020. The results obtained good separability between spectral signatures, variability between sites, good precision (over 87%) and good reliability (Kappa index over 0.75) in the classification. In the three areas, the trend was an increase in urban cover to the detriment of the rest. Knowledge of land cover, and its evolution from open access images and software, allows in developing countries with limited resources to manage their territories in a sustainable manner.