Spatial monitoring of urban growth of Mansoura City, Egypt

Urbanization is a global trend determined primarily by excessive population growth, particularly in the developing countries such as Egypt. The configuration and boundaries of urbanization and their model can be observed at a distance of space and time. In this research, geographic information system and remote sensing were used to analyze urbanization and trends in the past 30 years of Mansoura City, which is one of the largest medium-sized cities in Egypt. Four Landsat images, obtained in 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2015, were adjusted and compared using the ArcGIS software. The classified images were analyzed to determine urbanization trends in Mansoura city during the three periods 1985–1995, 1995–2005 and 2005–2015. The results of the change disclosure showed areas and trends in urbanization. The urban area has grown by approximately five times over 30 years. The results showed that the eastern direction was predominant during the periods (1985–1995) and (1995–2005) with 53 and 53% of the city total growth, respectively. During the period (2005–2015), the northern trend was dominant with 38% of the city total growth. This research promotes future urban planning strategies by evaluating temporal spatial transformation and urbanization trends.