Abstract

The large population growth of the province of Najaf, the latest great pressure on the city of Kufa, and the lack of adequate housing areas within the administrative boundaries has resulted in an increase of slums to a crawl towards agricultural areas and bypassed outside the administrative design of the city. Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have the potential to provide accurate information regarding land use and land cover changes. This paper testifies the appropriate techniques utilized to detect land use and land cover changes and the effect of irregular expansion on the urban planning.