Volume 11 Issue 2 ( June )

Urbanization has emerged as a prominent phenomenon in the modern era, significantly impacting urban growth. Remote sensing technology has proven to be a powerful tool for observing and monitoring this growth. Malang City, with a population of 846.13 thousand in 2020 (according to BPS Jawa Timur), is a highly urbanized area. Despite this, the city is not immune to urban sprawl, necessitating further investigation into its urban growth patterns. This research employed several approaches, including data selection and image processing, image classification, accuracy assessment, and change detection. This is followed by zonal and directional, also multi-ring buffer analyses to examine the spatial distribution of urban growth This research uses Sentinel 2A image data which is new enough to be used in observing urban growth. The accuracy assessment is conducted using stratified random sampling, followed by ground truth process. The land cover classifications for 2016 and 2022 achieved kappa values of 82.2% and 84.86%, respectively, with corresponding accuracy values of 89.58% and 91.03%. These results can be categorized as good for further observation. The analysis revealed a significant increase in built-up areas in Malang City between 2016 and 2022. This expansion came at the expense of vegetation land cover. Overall, urban growth in Malang City remains unevenly distributed across the entire city. This indicates an uneven distribution of infrastructure supporting urban growth. Therefore, an increase in infrastructure investment across the city is crucial. Equal distribution of infrastructure development can then stimulate development in other areas, fulfilling the need for land availability for housing and settlements. Despite this, ensuring equitable development across Malang City is crucial, avoiding concentration in specific zones or directions.

Keywords: urban growth, land cover, built-up areas, urbanization