Research on the effect of urban expansion on agricultural land in Ho Chi Minh City by using remote sensing method

Abstract

Ho Chi Minh City is a one of the biggest cities of Vietnam. Before 1945, there were about 400,000 inhabitants living in the city. During the last two decades, it became the biggest industrial and commercial center of the country. According to the statistics in 2005, its population was about 6.2 million people. In the suburban areas of the city, particularly in the northern part, agricultural activities produce the main income of these local residents. Within the last 15 years, due to urbanization and emigration from other provinces, the population explosion became a serious problem. The conversion of agricultural land into residential areas has increased more and more, causing the change of land‐use structure. This paper describes the capability of remote sensing for detecting and analyzing spatial changes as well as quantifying results to show the urban growth process, and its impact on the land‐use distribution in the northern part of Ho Chi Minh City.