Urbanization in Small Cities and Their Significant Implications on Landscape Structures: The Case in Ethiopia

Berhanu Keno Terfa, Nengcheng Chen, Xiang Zhang and Dev Niyogi
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Berhanu Keno Terfa: State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping, and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Nengcheng Chen: State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping, and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Xiang Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying, Mapping, and Remote Sensing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China
Dev Niyogi: Department of Agronomy-Crops, Soils, Environmental Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Fundamental ideas concerning urbanization are primarily based on studies performed in large cities. It is of interest to study whether or not similar phenomena take place in smaller cities. Small cities are an inherent component of urbanization, and in the future, the majority of globalization is expected to occur in small and mid-sized cities. Understanding the effects of small cities on landscape structures is, therefore, an essential component in planning city land expansion. Accordingly, this study focused on six towns of the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinnee, Ethiopia, which is broadly known to be experiencing dramatic growth. Time-series Landsat images from 1987 to 2019 with an integrated method, landscape metrics, and built-up density analysis were employed to characterize and compare the dynamics of landscape structures, urban expansion patterns, process, and overall growth status in the towns. The results highlight that all the towns experienced accelerated growth in the built-up areas and highly scattered nature in spatial growth. Landscape ecology analysis confirmed a highly fragmented urban landscape, a significant loss of natural land covers, and disconnected and complicated agro-vegetation patches in all towns, suggesting a lack of rigorous implementation of the master plan. Results also indicated that the Oromia Special Zone surrounding Finfinnee has failed to control urban sprawl to surrounding ecological sensitive areas. The study results, more broadly, highlight that the small cities would have a limited physical and demographic footprint and relatively less contribution to the national economic agglomeration; nonetheless, they can have a notable and important impact in terms of their ecological and environmental influence. Hence, the study suggests policies for monitoring such dynamics and protecting agro-environmental connectivity with particular focus on the small cities.

Keywords: Oromia Special Zone Surrounding Finfinnee; landscape; spatial patterns; remote sensing; towns (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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