LULCC analysis of spatial development and inequality paradox in arid geographies: a critical GIS approach to higher education curricula

This study investigates Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) in the Northern Cape, South Africa, which coincides with severe environmental degradation paradox, revealing how infrastructural ‘development’ constructs a resource mirage that spatially engineers environmental collapse and entrenches social inequality, necessitating the very critical scholarly interrogation this study provides. If left unchecked, this engineered spatial inequality will culminate in the Northern Cape’s ecological bankruptcy, rendering its landscapes uninhabitable. The study employed a Critical Geographic information systems framework grounded in Spatial Justice Theory, which was informed by a mixed-methods analysis integrating multi-temporal Landsat imagery (2004–2024) and a systematic literature review (SLR) following PRISMA protocols to deconstruct the political ecology of development in arid geographies. The results reveal a landscape in acute transition: grassland cover collapsed by 74.4% (277,267 km 2 to 122,857 km 2 ), while built-up areas expanded by 292% (91 km 2 –357 km 2 ) between the period under review. This drastic vegetation loss of approximately 100,000 km 2 between 2014 and 2024 and concentrated urban growth along resource corridors starkly visualize development inequality. Consequently, the study recommends a radical, place-based higher education model that integrates land rehabilitation curricula, partners with municipalities for sustainable town planning for community-led economic diversification.