Adama City in Ethiopia has undergone a dramatic transformation over the past two decades, and the consequences are reshaping its urban environment in ways that demand attention from planners, policymakers, and energy providers alike. A new study by Dagim Hailu Hurisa, a researcher at Ambo University’s School of Graduate Studies in the Department of Natural Resource Management, reveals how rapid urbanization has redrawn the city’s landscape—with measurable effects on land surface temperature, vegetation health, and water availability.
Using multi-temporal Landsat satellite imagery from 2004, 2014, and 2024, Hurisa and his team mapped changes in land use and land cover (LULC), tracking how agricultural fields, wetlands, and open spaces have given way to concrete and asphalt. The findings are stark: built-up areas now dominate 54.96% of the city’s surface, up from just 11.66% in 2004—an expansion of over 43%. Meanwhile, agricultural land has declined by nearly 15%, and wetlands have deteriorated severely.
“As natural surfaces are replaced by impervious materials, the city’s thermal environment is changing,” Hurisa explains. “We found that minimum land surface temperatures are rising, and the urban heat island effect is becoming more uniform across the city.” Built-up zones consistently registered higher temperatures than vegetated or water-rich areas, while spectral indices like the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) declined—signaling shrinking green spaces and reduced moisture retention.
These shifts carry significant commercial implications, particularly for the energy sector. As urban heat islands intensify, electricity demand for cooling is likely to surge, placing additional strain on power grids already challenged by Ethiopia’s growing urban populations. Conversely, the loss of wetlands and vegetation reduces natural cooling mechanisms, potentially increasing long-term cooling costs for buildings and infrastructure.
Hurisa’s work underscores the need for “blue-green” urban planning—integrating water features, parks, and permeable surfaces into city design to mitigate heat and manage stormwater. Such strategies could not only reduce energy consumption but also enhance urban resilience in the face of climate change.
Published in *Discover Cities* (formerly known as *Discover Water*), this research offers a timely reminder that urban growth must be balanced with environmental stewardship. As Adama and similar cities across Africa expand, the choices made today will shape their thermal and ecological futures—and the economic costs of inaction may be far greater than the price of sustainable planning.