Kharadi LULC Change Study 2016–2025: Google Earth Pro Digitisation Data and Statistical Analysis of Urbanisation and Environmental-Development Pressure in Kharadi, Pune, Maharashtra, India

This study investigates land use and land cover (LULC) transformation in Kharadi, Pune, between January 2016 and April 2025, using Google Earth Pro historical imagery and manual polygon digitisation. The study area comprises an approximately 2 × 2 km square grid centred on the Kharadi/EON IT Park region of Pune, Maharashtra, covering a total of 4,040,000 square metres (4.04 sq. km).

Six LULC classes were delineated: agricultural land, built-up land and roads, green land, transitional land, under construction, and water body. Statistical analysis includes absolute change, percentage change, compound annual growth rate (CAGR), annual rate of change, and two composite indices the Urbanisation Pressure Index (UPI) and the Green/Open Land Index (GOLI).

Results demonstrate that built-up land and roads expanded from 2.156 sq. km (53.37% of the study area) in 2016 to 2.723 sq. km (67.40%) in 2025, an absolute increase of approximately 0.567 sq. km at a CAGR of 2.63% per year. Green land contracted by 69.79%, while the overall green/open land area (agricultural land and green land combined) decreased by 60.53% from 0.791 sq. km to 0.312 sq. km. The Built-up to Green/Open Land Ratio increased from 2.73:1 in 2016 to 8.72:1 in 2025. The Urbanisation Pressure Index rose from 76.93% to 82.82%, and the Green/Open Land Index fell from 19.58% to 7.73%. Transitional land surged by 254.09%, indicating an active pipeline of ongoing development activity. All five research hypotheses were confirmed or cautiously supported. These findings point to a substantial shift toward urban dominance, significant reduction in ecological buffering capacity, and intensifying development pressure in Kharadi over the nine-year study period.

Keywords: LULC change detection, urbanisation, Kharadi, Pune, Google Earth Pro, Urbanisation Pressure Index, Green/Open Land Index, built-up expansion, ecological buffering