Land use change in Stellenbosch and its environs between 1994 and 2004

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Land use change in urban environments has created an urgent need for updated maps, both for citiesand metropolitan areas in South Africa. In Stellenbosch in particular, there is concern that the ruralurbanfringe is threatened by urban development. Stellenbosch Square, Bosman's Crossing, newresidential construction in Welgevonden and the planned Paradyskloof golf estate on the slopes ofStellenbosch Mountain indicate that the degree of land use change is unprecedented. These changes inthe urban envirom11ent foster the need to examine land use transformation in Stellenbosch and thesurrounding area. A land use database for 2004 was generated and compared with the existing 1994dataset. The 2004 land use dataset was developed by mapping the 2001 digital 01ihophoto imageryand updated through extensive field observations. The land use Kappa Index of Agreement (KIA) wascalculated in IDRISI's GIS analysis cross-tabulation module which permitted the comparison of twodategrids of 100 X 1 OOm resolution.This research found that urban growth through residential and commercial development threatensfarmland and the natural environment that lie in the rural-urban fringe. The land use areas foragriculture, urban development, commerce, infonnal settlements and open land categ01y shows thatchanges took place from 1994 and 2004. Notable land use changes during the period 1994 to 2004were found in annual agriculture, rural institutional, rural industry, recreation, forestry and openland/veld that decreased by 32.5 per cent, 6 per cent, 34.3 per cent, 25.4 per cent, 16.2 per cent and 6.4per cent, respectively. In contrast, perennial agriculture, industrial agriculture, formal urbandevelopment, informal settlements, rural commerce and hotels and extraction increased by 14.2 percent, 191.3 per cent, 7.8 per cent, 566.7 per cent, 140 per cent and 100.80 per cent, respectively.Practically speaking, the areas of rural institutional and rural industry were stable within these twodates although the computation of area shows that changes took place in these categories. At the sametime, the recreational areas actually increased from 1994 to 2004.The urban area and infom1al settlements developed rapidly during the decade at the expense of thenatural environment and agricultural areas. This study detem1ined that the proposed future urbangrowth sites will be located in the sensitive natural environments. The overall KIA of land use changein Stellenbosch and its environs is 0.74 indicating that the two date's images are not completelydifferent although land use changes took place from 1994 to 2004. This study has updated the land usedatabase developed in the past and gives a good indication of land use dynamics. Hopefully, thisresearch will aid future urban land use planning and decision-making with regard to sustainable landresource management and also contribute to the field of global environmental change.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University