Predicting Urban Expansion and Urban Land Use Changes in Nakhon Ratchasima City Using a CA-Markov Model under Two Different Scenarios

This study focused on the prediction of land-use changes in Nakhon Ratchasima city using a CA-Markov Model with GIS. Satellite images taken by Landsat-5 (1992), Landsat-7 (2002) and THEOS (2016) were used to predict land use in 2026. In 1992, the most proportion of land usage was built-up areas (47.76%) and followed by green areas (37.45%), bare lands (13.19%), and water bodies (1.60%), respectively. In 2002, the land use comprised built-up areas (56.04%), green areas (35.52%), bare lands (4.80%) and water bodies (3.63%). By 2016, urbanisation had changed the land use pattern, which comprised built-up areas (70.80%), green areas (20.78%), bare lands (6.37%), and water bodies (2.03%). The data were analysed using a change detection matrix and revealed an increase in built-up area at the expense of all other types, especially green areas. The results were in accordance with the prediction model created in two scenarios. Scenario 1 assumed city expansion following past trends, built-up areas (85.88%), green areas (11.67%), bare lands (2.15%), and water bodies (0.30%). Scenario 2 assumed city expansion in accordance with the national strategy, built-up areas (74.91%), green areas (15.77%), bare lands (8.48%), and water bodies (0.84%). The results indicated an expansion of built-up areas and a shrinking of green areas. In Scenario 2, urban expansion was less than in Scenario 1, and preserving the green area seemed more feasible due to governmental restrictions. The results indicated that planning the urbanisation according to the policies development plans, especially in specific areas, contributed to a more efficient urbanisation growth. The city should provide to promote the use of floor area ratio (FAR) and open space ratio (OSR) with urban planning measures as well as increasing the green areas.