Abstract

ASSESSING URBAN SPRAWL & QUALITY OF URBAN LIFE THROUGH GIS TECHNIQUES

P A Majeed and *Brototi Biswas

ABSTRACT

Urban sprawl may be a term simply used to describe an area of land in transition from a rural use to an urban use. India has been facing unprecedented population growth coupled with unplanned developmental activities. The rate of urbanization has been increasing in leaps and bounds. Nanded district of Maharashtra is facing one of the fastest sprawl conditions in Mararthwada region of Maharashtra. The paper studies the urban sprawl of HUDCO township of Nanded district along with the spatial (changes in built up area, agricultural land, open space, etc) and demographic consequences. To assess the quality of urban life in the study area, the availability and extent of availability (in the background of huge population base and increased urbanization) of certain urban infrastructural facilities such as government hospitals, educational institutes, electric connection, tap water connection, street lights, metalled roads etc were selected as indicators of urban life. Comparative study of 2004 and 2011 was done based on the objectives undertaken. There has been a huge leap in the built up area, population, and decrease in agricultural & open space in 2011 as compared to 2004. However the urban infrastructural amenities surveyed were definitely gasping in the face of rapid urban sprawl in the study area. Google Earth images of the study area along with GIS technique and survey of the area were the methodologies adopted for the present study for the sampled time span.

Keywords: Urban sprawl, built up area, agricultural land area, urban infrastructural factors.