Multitemporal analysis of vegetation cover in the urban master plan of Palmas, Tocantins

Abstract

The analysis and characterization of land cover and use in urban areas and their changes over time represent a great relevance for urban environmental planning and management. Since 1970, the urbanization process has been intensified in the center of the country, with intense social and environmental changes due to the rapid and disordered urban expansion, promoting intense land use transformations in the Brazilian Cerrado. Since then, the Cerrado has become one of the most threatened areas in the world due to the expansion of agriculture and urbanization. The construction of Palmas, capital of Tocantins, took place from 1989 and although it was planned from a socio-environmental perspective, the transformations were intense with the removal of native vegetation cover and accelerated implantation of urban infrastructure. In order to assess the extent of these changes in the composition and configuration of land use and coverage in Palmas’ Urban Plan, we carried out a multitemporal analysis of the urban landscape from the beginning of its construction to the present day, mapping and quantifying changes in vegetation cover and urbanized areas, in order to understand the relationship between the loss of vegetation cover and its potential consequences for the conservation of local biodiversity and thermal comfort in the urban environment. Seven thematic maps were obtained showing that in the last 30 years, more than 60% of the area of Palmas’ Urban Plan has already been modified by human action. Currently there are just over 37% of original vegetation cover, 6% corresponding to the Cerrado Forest and 31.7% to the Typical Cerrado, causing a series of socio-environmental problems for the city, such as loss of biodiversity and urban heat islands effect.