Regional planning is currently one of the pillars of the state and a measure of its
development, because planning works to show the current or the future problems, and puts
the appropriate solutions. So there is no doubt that the population is the
main goal of any
planning process by ensuring the various requirements of life for the increasing number of
them year after year. Finding adequate housing is therefore one of the first steps in the
planning process.
The problem of population growth is one of the most prominent problems facing countries
at present time. This is evident in city centers, which results in many problems such as
informal housing. In this study, we had a spatial study to determine the best location for
establishing a new city in order to accommodate the increasing number of population
within the Lattakia Governorate (Syrian Arab Republic), and we also achieved a
population study in order to determine the future population growth.
Geographic information systems (GIS) have proven its efficiency in spatial and
descriptive data management and analysis, so they have been relied upon to determine the
appropriate places for urban expansion based on a set of criteria collected from a range of
research that affect the selection process of these areas, through spatial analysis tools
within the GIS software to reach the appropriate areas of expansion to accommodate the
expected population growth.
This study was related to the urban development of Homs City and
its surrounding between 1972 – 2010 by using remote sensing
technique and geographic information system. The results of the
study indicated that the size of the city was increased 60
0% times ,
randomly and eliminating most of crop lands.
This study aims to show the land use changes during the period 1970 – 1991.
The study includes the city of Homs and the surrounding areas, with total
surface area of 9686 ha. To carry out this study, aerial photographs were used
where sets of diff
erent periods were taken, one was taken in 1970 with a scale of
1/20000, and the other set for the year 1991 with a scale of 1/15000, the two sets
of aerial photographs were interpreted and analyzed after the delineation of the
targets, and two maps were prepared after unifying the scales and selecting the
proper legend.
The results indicated obvious changes in land use, for example, the area of
cereals crops was in 1970 about 32.9 % of the total area and decreased by 11.8
% in 1991. In the area of gardens a reasonable increase was recorded, while in
the area of vineyards an increase of about 1 % was noticed.
But the big issue is the urban expansion at the expense of arable lands, the
expansion area of housing has been increased from 8% in 1970 to 24% in 1991,
and the area of civil establishments was increased from 2.27 % in 1970 to 5.47
% in 1991, in the new concept of desertification urban expansion at the
agricultural land means a permanent desertification, this matter should be
considered seriously and the necessary measurements must be taken into
account.
