Sünbül, Fatih2022-02-152022-02-1520190255-660X0974-3006https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-019-00988-6https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14034/426Quantifying and monitoring the spatial and temporal dynamics of the land use/land cover (LULC) in a given region are critical for better characterizing land use generally, including that for social, economic and environmental purposes. Urbanization plays a key role in modifying land cover and has a widespread impact on the environment, where uncontrolled urban sprawl also leads to disruption of landscapes and habitat and degradation in biodiversity. Monitoring continuous LULC changes can provide helpful insights for decision makers of future planning, in terms of establishing robust land use management planning. However, urban growth is very complex phenomenon and hard to control under unpredictable disasters such as earthquakes. Here, we have focused on Sakarya Province in order to assess LULC change in the city following the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake. For this purpose, three Landsat satellite images were used covering the last two decades. Segmentation process and supervised classification of images were also employed. In the whole study region following the 1999 destructive earthquake, the image analysis result shows that the significant transformation in land use developed in the settlement area from 1291.5 to 1516.3 ha (up to 17.4% in ratio) due to migration. According to the results, a decrease of 21.2% was recorded in forest areas from 3505.7 to 2761.3 ha and a decrease of 15.8% was recorded in inland wetlands from 120.5 to 101.0 ha. In contrast, we have estimated an increase in agricultural areas from 63.2 to 67.2 ha (6.3% in ratio) despite a slight decrease in the 2008-2016 periods. In conclusion, we have observed a northern urban sprawl in the area where the natural balance is estimated to deteriorate in the coming years.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccessRemote sensingLand use land cover changeSegmentationSupervised classificationSakarya ProvinceLand-Use ChangeGrowthGisArticle10.1007/s12524-019-00988-647914871496Q4WOS:0004846163000032-s2.0-85065703508Q2