URBAN SPRAWL, PATTERN AND MEASUREMENT IN LOKOJA, NIGERIA

Lokoja have been experiencing a large influx of population from its surrounding regions, which had led to rapid growth and expansion that had left profound changes on the landscape in terms of land use and land cover. This study uses the GIS techniques and the application of Shannon’s entropy theory to measure the behavior of sprawl which is based on the notion that landscape entropy or disorganization increases with sprawl, analysis was carried out based on the integration of remote sensing and GIS, the measurement of entropy is devised based on the town location factors, distance from roads, to reveal and capture spatial patterns of urban sprawl. Then Entropy value for each zone revealed a high value, especially areas outside the core city area; like Felele, with the entropy of 0.3, Adankolo, 0.2 and Lokongoma, 0.2. These areas are evenly dispersed settlement, as one move away from the city core. Study shows a correlation of population densities and entropy values of 1987 and 2007, for areas like Felele ,Adankolo, and Lokongoma , which is indicative of spread over space , an evidence of sprawl. But as we go down the table the entropy values seem to tend towards zero. This study provides quantitative data for effective planning and decision making in projecting the town growth and in planning the direction of growth.