Geospatial Technologies and Their Contribution to Cadastral Survey and Spatial Planning of Urban Expansion: A Case of Chuka Municipality, Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya

Urban expansion has become an unstoppable trend in many areas that fail to update their cadastral maps and land use plans, leading to unplanned, unsurveyed urban sprawl. This study uses Chuka municipality as a case to investigate the application of the cadastral system as a tool for urban regularization. Specifically, the study aims to examine current spatio-temporal urban changes and land-use trends; identify the key challenges and impacts arising from unplanned urban expansion; analyze the underlying drivers of urban expansion, including challenges and gaps in historical cadastral surveying; and finally propose geospatial technology-based strategies for sustainable urban redevelopment. Using a mixed-methods approach that combined quantitative and qualitative data, the study employed geospatial technologies to achieve its objectives. Using Sentinel-2 Land-Use Land-Cover data, the study found that the built-up area of Chuka Municipality increased by approximately 16.85% between 2017 and 2024, while cropland and tree cover decreased by 10.21% and 2.47%, respectively. Challenges associated with the boundary expansion included infrastructure and service overloads, informal settlements and tenure insecurity, and environmental degradation and risk amplification. The study also found that linear development along major roads, the rise of educational and social facilities (Chuka University and Kirubia Stadium, respectively), institutional and policy gaps in land administration, and technical limitations in cadastral frameworks were drivers of urban expansion. Finally, the study proposed geospatial technology-based strategies to address urban expansion, including multicriteria decision analysis for land suitability and participatory planning. The study covers the old Chuka Municipality and its expansion to the Ndagani neighborhood (Chuka University). The study excludes the rest of the municipality.