This study investigates urban sprawl patterns and their relationship with land use and land cover (LULC) transformations in Palakkad Municipality, a fast-growing medium-sized urban centre in Kerala, India, through the application of geospatial techniques. Such towns are increasingly experiencing significant land transformation due to growing population pressure and infrastructure expansion, yet remain underrepresented in urban sprawl studies. Multi-temporal Landsat imagery for the years 2001, 2011, and 2021 was analysed to perform change detection, and a supervised classification approach based on the maximum likelihood algorithm was employed to delineate five major land use categories. The extent of built-up land increased from 16.17% in 2001 to 50.80% in 2021, representing a net increase of 34.63%. The spatial pattern shows a transition from monocentric growth to linear expansion along major transportation corridors, with mixed tree vegetation and net sown areas being progressively converted to built-up land. These changes, supported by population and workforce growth trends, indicate increasing pressure on land resources and emerging ecological imbalance. The study provides a data-driven basis for urban planners and policymakers to promote sustainable land-use strategies and manage urban expansion in similar emerging urban centres.