The escalating demand for anthropic needs and urban development has highlighted the importance of monitoring and change detection of land use land cover (LULC). With an increase in agricultural expansion and infrastructural development, every land surface on earth calls for a long-term investigation of land modification patterns and their underlying contributory factors. The present investigation monitors the LULC changes and assesses the process controls in Kohima and Dimapur districts of Nagaland, India. Currently, these two districts encompassing the main urban cities of the hilly state are experiencing rapid urbanization and unplanned developmental activities. Alike any other LULC changes observed in unplanned and developing cities, these districts are likely to face environmental degradation, and particularly, the occurrence of frequent landslides and flash floods. The study has three objectives—(i) LULC mapping of Kohima and Dimapur districts for three periods (1998, 2008, and 2018), (ii) comparative analysis of LULC change patterns in the two districts during the three epochs (1998–2008, 2008–2018, and 1998–2018), and (iii) assessment of the contributory factors. For the study, remotely sensed LANDSAT images (TM and OLI) in Geographical Information System (GIS) platform were utilized along with field surveys. Supervised classification technique was employed and four major LULC classes were identified using Landsat level-1 classification system. The overall accuracy of the classification varied between 91 and 98%. Results showed that Built Up areas have increased significantly in both the districts at the rate of 322.6 ha/year in Kohima and 301.9 ha/year in Dimapur during 1998–2018. On the other hand, Agricultural Land and Forest Land declined in both districts. Changes in LULC were mainly due to marginalization of shifting cultivation, deforestation, infrastructural development, urban migration, and flourishing of aquaculture farming. This study furnishes baseline information on LULC in the data-scarce region of Northeast India and is an insinuation to the policy-makers to ensure sustainable land use planning in the face of rapid urbanization.

对人类需求和城市发展的需求不断增长，突显了对土地利用土地覆盖率（LULC）进行监测和变化检测的重要性。随着农业扩张和基础设施发展的增加，地球上的每一个陆地表面都需要对土地改良模式及其潜在的成因进行长期研究。本次调查监测了LULC的变化，并评估了印度那加兰邦Kohima和Dimapur地区的过程控制。当前，这两个涵盖丘陵州主要城市的地区正经历着快速的城市化进程和计划外的发展活动。与在未规划城市和发展中城市观察到的任何其他LULC变化一样，这些地区很可能面临环境恶化，特别是，频繁发生山体滑坡和山洪暴发。这项研究具有三个目标-（i）Kohima和Dimapur地区三个时期（1998年，2008年和2018年）的LULC绘图，（ii）三个时期（1998-2008年）两个地区的LULC变化模式的比较分析。 2008-2018年和1998-2018年），以及（iii）评估影响因素。在这项研究中，利用了地理信息系统（GIS）平台中的遥感LANDSAT图像（TM和OLI）以及野外调查。采用监督分类技术，并使用Landsat 1级分类系统确定了四个主要的LULC分类。分类的整体准确性在91％和98％之间变化。结果表明，两个地区的建成区面积都显着增加，其中Kohima地区和301地区分别为322.6公顷/年。1998-2018年间，迪马普尔每年9公顷。另一方面，两个地区的农地和林地均下降。土地利用，土地利用变化的变化主要是由于耕作转移，森林砍伐，基础设施发展，城市迁徙以及水产养殖业蓬勃发展所致。这项研究为印度东北部数据稀少的地区提供了土地利用，土地利用变化的基线信息，这对政策制定者来说是一个启发，以确保面对快速城市化的可持续土地利用规划。