Abstract:
Informal settlement becomes one of the socio-economic, demographic, environmental, planning,
and management challenges in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to investigate the expansion of
informal settlements using geospatial techniques: the case of Shone Town, Hadiya Zone. This
research was conducted by using descriptive research design with a mixed research approach.
Both primary and secondary sources of data were used. To achieve the objective of the study,
Satellite image of Land-sat TM for 1990, 2000, 2010 and Land Sat 8 OLI 2020 were employed. In
addition to this, both Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through survey households,
key informants, and Focus group discussion participants. A simple random sampling technique
was employed to select 295 informal households. Quantitative data collected from survey
households were analyzed in the form of frequency and percentage, by using SPSS. The Land
use/Land Cover Change analysis results indicated that an increasing informal settlement trend
over the last three decades. The informal settlement is characterized by the poor quality of the
house, poor water supply, sanitation, electricity, road, and drainage. As a result, wealth disparity,
rising urban land leasing prices, and poor compensation are among the dominant economic
drivers for the establishment of informal settlements. Similarly, an ever-increasing urban
population, poor land provision, lack of housing affordability rises in rental housing cost, and
shortage of resources are also factors. Accordingly, lack of basic infrastructure, economic crisis
due to demolition and evection, lack of legal ownership and fear, Poor living standards and
housing condition, poor sanitation and waste disposal, pollution, and encroachment of
agricultural land are impacts of the informal settlement. There is a significant spatial and temporal
shift in land use land cover towards the expansion of informal settlement at Shone Town.
Generally, the finding indicates informal settlement increased from 12.5 ha in 1990 to 68.7 ha in
2020. while the no-built area slightly decreased from 788 ha in 1990 to 354 ha in 2020. As opposed
to the constitution the land is becoming the most commodity item in the per- urban areas of shone
town.
