Drivers of Urban Growth: Cellular Automata–Markov–Analytic Hierarchy Process Modeling of Land Use Change in Amman City, Jordan

Over the past two decades, rapid urban growth significantly altered land-use patterns in Amman, raising critical concerns regarding sustainability and food security. This study utilized an integrated Cellular Automata–Markov (CA–Markov) model, in combination with the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), to simulate land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes and project future scenarios for 2031 and 2040. The CA–Markov model quantified temporal land-use transitions and simulated spatial growth pattern