Land-use change and urban expansion in Binh Duong province, Vietnam, from 1995 to 2020

This study aims to analyze land-use change and urban expansion in Binh Duong province, Vietnam, from 1995 to 2020. Multitemporal Landsat images were used to develop land-use maps. Area statistics and transition matrices were employed to explore the land-use change; meanwhile, annual expansion rate (AER), expansion contribution rate (ECR), and district-, ring-, and sector-based analyses were employed to analyze the urban expansion. The results showed that there was a large transition from agricultural and unused lands to other uses. This resulted in an expansion of developed areas, recreational regions, mining sites, and water surfaces, a drastic decline of agricultural land for annual crops, and a fluctuation of perennial cropland and unused land. The study also indicated that the urban area has expanded 65 times within 25 years at an increasing rate. The AER and ECR were uneven between subregions, and there was a gradual expansion and shift from south to north of the province. The factors affecting the changes comprise natural conditions, development histories, policies and practices for urbanization, industrialization, and agricultural development, and product price fluctuations in the market. Practical lessons learned from this study could be useful for land planning and policymaking in other localities.