Urban flooding has become a significant concern across many towns and cities in the Asia Pacific. Vulnerabilityand its components must be understood in order to minimize flood risks. Rapid urban growth occurs in developing countries,resulting from unplanned settlements growing along the rivers, and coastlines are at greater risk. On average, a total of 40%of the world’s population lives in narrow coastal belts that take up 7% of the total world land area. Coastal areas areurbanizing at an unprecedented rate that is posing a common threat to humans and ecosystems. Low-lying coastal areas areespecially susceptible to climate change related coastal hazards such as; sea level rise, storm surge, coastal flooding, landsubsidence etc.This study has been carriedoutacross four talukas of South Goa district, India's smallest state, locatedalong the Arabian sea. The low-lying coastal belt of South Goa district is dotted with world famous sandy beaches ofPalolem, Agonda, Colva etc. which attract millions of tourists every year. The present study has assessed the spatio-temporalgrowth of built-up land in low-lying coastal areas (Marmugao, Salcette, Quepem and Canacona) of South goa district.GoogleEarthEngineplatformwasusedtoestimateNormalizedDifferenceBuildIndex(NDBI)basedonLandsatETM+/OLI imageries for 2009, 2015 and 2020 to determine and map spatio-temporal changes in the total built-up area. Theresult revealed that there had been a rapid built-up area increment in South goa coastal belt by 24.94 Sq. Km between 2009(88.46 Sq. Km) and 2015 (113.40 Sq. Km) and by 15.14 Sq. Km between 2015 (113.40 Sq. Km) and 2020 (128.54 Sq. Km).The main driving force behind this phenomenon is the extensive land use changes for haphazard tourism development (inSalcetteandCanacona)andimmigration(inMarmugao).However,theconversionoftraditionalpaddyfieldsandmodification of natural drainage systemtoincrease built-up areas cansignificantly increase the physical andsocialvulnerability in low lying areas of Salcette and Canacona against the coastal hazards. This study may help urban planners/authoritiestolettheregiondevelopin sustainablemanne
