Analysis of Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Urban Areas Using Remote Sensing: Case of Blantyre City

Table 2

LULC class description.

LULC class	Description
Built-up land	Land that has been built on. It includes commercial, residential, industrial, and transportation infrastructure
Bare land	Areas with no dominant vegetation cover, including exposed rocks
Forest land	Areas with open woodland (15–65%), herbaceous layers, and closed broadleaved deciduous trees (>70–60%)
Herbaceous land	Including land with herbaceous closed vegetation (15–100%), permanent marsh, sparse tree, and shrub savannah
Agricultural land	Idle land being used for small-scale farming of rain-fed crops (maize) and cultivated dambo areas (BCC laws do not permit farming in the city even though small-scale farming is still practiced)
Waterbody	Areas permanently covered by water, which includes man-made dams and ponds