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