| Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) changes, particularly the phenomenon known as sprawl, are a growing concern for planners and ordinary citizens alike. The northwest Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), located in Benton and Washington Counties, Arkansas, has experienced relatively high population growth during the past 64 years - the area has sustained a 3.5% annual growth rate since 1941. The objective of this study is to examine changing patterns of land use and land cover in a portion of northwest Arkansas from 1941-2005. LULC changes will be measured against population growth, expansion of roadway networks, and urbanization in an effort to quantify patterns and processes of LULC changes and urban encroachment. Maps of the study area combined with analyses of magnitude, direction, tempo, and style of urban encroachment will also form an historical baseline from which ongoing studies might continue to track broad geographic changes into the future. It is also an objective of this study to provide indications of trajectories or vectors (magnitude and direction) of urban growth across the study area. The data for magnitude and direction of urban growth is available via tables of statistics calculated and LULC maps created using a repeatable method. The data revealed the greatest amount of growth occurred in the southeastern part of the study area, followed by the northeast, northwest, and southwest respectively. Again, understanding urbanization trajectories may provide insight into specific processes responsible for land use conversions, and this information may assist in developing long-term strategies to minimize impacts of urbanization on environmental quality. Development of such long-term strategies from historic data is essential to devising sustainable social and economic systems. |
