Monitoring city green zones using GIS technologies: An example of Tashkent city, Uzbekistan

Abstract

Increasing green zones can be a suitable option to meet the challenges of growing cities. City authorities in developing countries face a lack of reliable data on the status of urban trees and forestry. The objective of this study was to carry out a spatio-temporal analysis of the dynamics of urban green zones of Tashkent City using Landsat satellite images taking into account climatic changes. For this, we used methods of laying test plots in assessing tree-shrubbery vegetation, a technique for expert interpretation of land cover objects from satellite images of medium spatial resolution, and mathematical statistics. The statistical analyses showed that the temperature regime has the greatest degree of influence on the dynamics of NDVI, i.e. the onset of the growing season corresponds to an increase in temperature. Precipitation, in view of its unstable and uneven distribution in the study area, has a weak negative relationship with the phytomass of green zones. Spatial analysis revealed an average degree of variability of NDVI in the green areas of the city for the studied period of 2000-2011.