Department of Geography

This paper uses remote sensing (aerial photographs and satellite images) combined with field checks and surveys to measure the loss of agricultural land to urban expansion in Saharanpur City between 1988 and 1998. It shows how such techniques allow a detailed mapping of land use changes and includes details of the location of the agricultural land losses, the nature of the land use changes that caused these and the quality of the agricultural land that was lost. The paper also describes which non agricultural land uses were responsible for most of the agricultural land losses and discusses what these findings imply for India and for other nations where urbanization is reducing the supply of high quality agricultural land.

Accessibility plays an important role in land-use change or re-organisation, especially in and around settlements. Indian cities are strongly dependent on roads for transportation. The road network is so important in India that the development and growth of several cities stemmed from their location along major roads. Competition for accessible sites is strong, and the land-use patterns of Indian cities are highly dynamic. This study examines the role of accessibility in the re-organisation of urban land and focuses on Saharanpur, which is a Class I city (population of 100,000 and above) of western Uttar Pradesh (India). It traditionally had an agrarian-dominated population, but lately because of the emergence of several industries, the city has lost its agrarian fabric and more and more of its population are now quitting the agrarian sector and switching to the secondary and tertiary sectors. This development in the secondary and tertiary sectors is attracting migrants not only from the city's hinterland but also from longer distances. The result is a massive expansion of the city as well as re-organisation of land. The study is based on remotely sensed data, processed in a GIS environment using ILWIS software.

During the last few decades population of the world has increased tremendously. This increase was more pronounced among the developing and underdeveloped countries. This results in high pressure on the land. This alarming population growth has resulted in rapid urbanisation and urban expansion because rural areas are unable to provide employment opportunities resulting in mass migration to urban areas. This urban expansion is encroaching upon fertile agricultural land.

Human actions rather than natural forces are the source of most contemporary changes in the state and flows of the biosphere. Understanding these actions and the social forces that drive them is crucial to understanding, modelling and predicting local, regional as well as global environmental change and also for managing and responding to such change. The present study investigates the patterns of urban land transformation in Srinagar City, which lies in fragile hill eco-system of Kashmir valley. The results points towards unplanned and haphazard urban expansion and transformation. These transformations have severely destroyed the water bodies both in terms of area as well as its quality.

An explosive increase of urban population, practically in all major cities and towns, has the consequent strain on the existing system manifested in an environmental chaos. The phenomena of accelerated urbanisation is the main culprit, wherein besides bringing higher standard of living, it has also brought problems, as growth of dense and unplanned residential areas, environmental pollution, non-availability of services and amenities, solid waste etc. Remote sensing satellite data is suitable for urban land use mapping to get detail and upto-date information for environmental management. Where as GIS helps in developing database system for urban information, which supports decision making process. Development of digital database on all aspects of land use and urban planning is the next crucial task for the future in which remote sensing based information is going to play a major role. In Delhi, rise in population and growth in economic activity has led to environmental degradation. With this view an attempt has been made to study the quality of urban environment in the East district of Delhi, which is experiencing very high urban growth with 98.75% urban population in 2001. For this study Landsat ASTER (MSS) data of year 2001 (15 m Ground resolution), Guide map of the year 1982 and demographic and environmental data has been used. Eight parameters were selected, which affect the urban environmental quality, namely built-up area, open spaces, household density, occupancy ratio, population density, accessibility to roads, noise and smell affected area. The study shows that the quality of environment has been degraded when we compare 1982 and 2003 data. Most of the East district was in a better state of environment in 1982, but in 2003 things have been changed and now 50% area is in very good, fair and desirable condition. The public participation and involvement should be encouraged planning and decisions making for the improvement in better urban environmental quality. which increased to 35 in 2001 [3] some of the prominent are Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta and Chennai etc. As urban population increases, the demand of land for various urban activities also increases. In India the process of urbanization gained momentum with the start of industrial revolution and globalization way back in 1970s. Forests were cleared, grasslands ploughed or grazed, wetlands drained and croplands encroached upon under the influence of expanding cities, yet never as fast as in the last decade. The main basis of urbanization is the economic change and in particular the growth of secondary and tertiary occupation in urban areas .

The Indus river delta comprises of 17 major and numerous minor creeks, vast expanses of mudflats and dense patches of fringing mangroves. The Indus deltaic mangroves are considered to be unique because they form the largest block of arid climate mangroves in the world. The Indian part of the delta, around Kori Creek, boasts of more than 65% of the total mangrove cover of Gujarat state, India. Due to changes in the coastal processes in the deltaic environment and anthropogenic activities in the catchment area of the Indus river as well as in the coastal region, mangroves are under constant threat of being wiped out. Therefore, it is imperative that these ecosystems be continuously monitored so as to plan a suitable conservation strategy for them. This study reports changes in mangrove cover over a period of 45 years in a part of the delta using multi-date and multi-sensor satellite data and old topographical maps. The study area forms south eastern part of the Indus delta near Kori Creek in Gujarat. It is located in the north-western part of Kachchh district, comprising region between Narayan Sarovar and Jakhau, in particular. Topographical maps of 1965-66 time frames, Coastal Zone Information System (CZIS) data base prepared using 1989-1991 satellite data available at SAC and IRS-1D LISS-III for 2001, LANDSAT 7 ETM+ for 2006 and IRS-P6 LISS-III data for 2010 were utilized for the analysis. The study observes that during the time frame 1965-66 to 2006 mangrove area has reduced by 11.38 sq km in the study region. Most of the degradation took place around Narayan Sarovar, Sindhodic Creek, Chukh Creek, Kharia Creek and Godia Creek. The causes of degradation seem to be dynamic coastal processes occurring in the Indus deltaic environment over 45 years period and increased anthropogenic pressures. Changes in the coastal geomorphology, in particular changes in mudflat regions in Sugar Creek and Sindhodic Creek and erosion near Narayan Sarovar-Koteshwar are observed to have caused reduction of mangrove cover in this area. Development of salt pan activities has led to depletion in mangrove cover around Kharia and Godia Creek. Mangrove cover in the study region has increased during the time frame 2006-2010 by 8.26 sq km, in particular in regions such as east of Sethwara and Ogata bet. This might be because these areas are relatively sheltered and less affected by the influence of dynamic coastal processes and anthropogenic activities.

An explosive increase of urban population, practically in all major cities and towns, has the consequent strain on the existing system manifested in an environmental chaos. The phenomena of accelerated urbanisation is the main culprit, wherein besides bringing higher standard of living, it has also brought problems, as growth of dense and unplanned residential areas, environmental pollution, non-availability of services and amenities, solid waste etc. Remote sensing satellite data is suitable for urban land use mapping to get detail and upto-date information for environmental management. Where as GIS helps in developing database system for urban information, which supports decision making process. Development of digital database on all aspects of land use and urban planning is the next crucial task for the future in which remote sensing based information is going to play a major role. In Delhi, rise in population and growth in economic activity has led to environmental degradation. With this view an attempt has been made to study the quality of urban environment in the East district of Delhi, which is experiencing very high urban growth with 98.75% urban population in 2001. For this study Landsat ASTER (MSS) data of year 2001 (15 m Ground resolution), Guide map of the year 1982 and demographic and environmental data has been used. Eight parameters were selected, which affect the urban environmental quality, namely built-up area, open spaces, household density, occupancy ratio, population density, accessibility to roads, noise and smell affected area. The study shows that the quality of environment has been degraded when we compare 1982 and 2003 data. Most of the East district was in a better state of environment in 1982, but in 2003 things have been changed and now 50% area is in very good, fair and desirable condition. The public participation and involvement should be encouraged planning and decisions making for the improvement in better urban environmental quality. which increased to 35 in 2001 [3] some of the prominent are Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta and Chennai etc. As urban population increases, the demand of land for various urban activities also increases. In India the process of urbanization gained momentum with the start of industrial revolution and globalization way back in 1970s. Forests were cleared, grasslands ploughed or grazed, wetlands drained and croplands encroached upon under the influence of expanding cities, yet never as fast as in the last decade. The main basis of urbanization is the economic change and in particular the growth of secondary and tertiary occupation in urban areas .

The increasing population and economic activities are putting pressure on the available land resources. Human population and their use of land have transformed the terrestrial biosphere into anthropogenic biomes (anthromes). The present study analyses the urban land use/cover change and land transformation in Srinagar city which is located in the valley of the hill state of Jammu and Kashmir. A change detection analysis was performed to determine the nature, extent and rate of land use/cover change and transformation over 30 years of time period. The results show that the city has expanded significantly at the cost of non built-up land which has decreased in its area. Significantly there was not only the expansion of city area but also there were interchange of land between different land use/cover classes in the study area.

In the developing countries, the rapid increase in urban population has created a serious threat to environmental conditions within living areas. Congested housing, poor bathroom and sanitation facilities, heaps of garbage, solid wastes and blocked drains among other things pose serious threats to the health and well-being of the people. In this paper an attempt has been made to throw light on household environmental conditions, their relationship to income and their effect on health in Aligarh City, India. One-hundred and twenty households belonging to different economic strata were surveyed. A close relationship between the income of the household and the types of diseases they suffer was observed. It was concluded that poverty was the main polluter.

During the last few decades population of the world has increased tremendously. This increase was more pronounced among the developing and underdeveloped countries. This results in high pressure on the land. This alarming population growth has resulted in rapid urbanisation and urban expansion because rural areas are unable to provide employment opportunities resulting in mass migration to urban areas. This urban expansion is encroaching upon fertile agricultural land.The present study makes an attempt to draw factual use of land on the map to show precise locational insight about the use of land, further to eliminate misuse in terms of the physical, economic, social and cultural factors. Further it also estimates the loss of agricultural land and the resultant loss of agricultural products, which has been incurred by expansion of urban centres. The case study was done on Indian city, where agriculture is still the main occupation of the countries 70% population. But with rapidly growing population any shortage of agricultural products have far reaching implications both politically and socially. Saharanpur city was chosen as the study area which is one of the class I city situated in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh (India). The initial development of Saharanpur city is due to its well-developed agricultural hinterland. But in the last few years, several industries have come up and the city is now shedding its agrarian character by adopting secondary and tertiary economic activities.The study is based on remotely sensed data and processed in GIS environment using ILWIS software. The result clearly points towards substantial loss of agricultural land due to expansion of Saharanpur city. Interestingly non-built-up development of the city has caused maximum loss.

Land is one of the prime natural resources. A
city grows not only by population but also by changes in
spatial dimensions. Urban population growth and urban
sprawl induced land use changes and land transformation.
The land transformation is a natural process and cannot be
stopped but it can be regulated. Many geographical
changes at the urban periphery are associated with the
transfer of land from rural to urban purpose. There is an
urgent need for fast growing areas like Delhi, which can
be easily done by high-resolution remote sensing data.
Land use/land cover of North West of Delhi has been
analyzed for the time period of 1972–2003. The remote
sensing data used in study is Aster image of 2003 with a
spatial resolution of 15 m and other data of 1972 Survey
of India (SOI) toposheet at the scale of 1:50,000.
Supervised digital classification using maximum
likelihood classifier was applied for preparing land use/
land cover. A change detection model was applied in
ERDAS Imagine to find out the land use/land cover
during 1972 to 2003. Eight land use classes was identified
but main dominated classes were built up and agricultural
land. A drastic change has been recorded during 30 years
of time i. e. (1972-2003). In 1972, 92.06% of the land was
under agricultural practice, which reduced to 64.71% in
2003. This shows 27.35% decrease in agricultural land in
three decades. On the other hand built up area was 6.31%
in 1972, which increased to 34% in 2003. One of the main
cause of this land use change is the population growth due
to the migration in the district from small cities and rural
areas of Delhi.

The increasing population and economic activities are putting pressure on the available land resources. Human population and their use of land have transformed the terrestrial biosphere into anthropogenic biomes (anthromes). The present study analyses the urban land use/cover change and land transformation in Srinagar city which is located in the valley of the hill state of Jammu and Kashmir. A change detection analysis was performed to determine the nature, extent and rate of land use/cover change and transformation over 30 years of time period. The results show that the city has ex- panded significantly at the cost of non built-up land which has decreased in its area. Significantly there was not only the expansion of city area but also there were interchange of land between different land use/cover classes in the study area.

The sprawl-versus-containment debate relates to many different aspects of the broad concept of sustainability, and as such the answers found by research are rarely decisive, compact cities have advantages in some respects, but disadvan- tages in others. The present study focuses on the patterns of urbanization process in Netherlands as a whole and within the “Green Heart” in particular. The present study finds over the last decades, the Green Heart is under attack from su- burbanization of larger and smaller settlements as several political concessions have been made to local development needs. The Green Heart is also affected by the construction of new roads and railway lines. This infrastructure is built for tangential transport of an increasing volume of commuters. The spatial policies for preserving green spaces suffer from a dilemma between two contradicting functions of green space in a regional context: to be a separator of urban and rural areas and to be an integrator towards the Regional City of “Green Metropolis”.

The paper explores how rapid urbanization in Srinagar (India) has led to the decay of the environment of Dal Lake -one of the most tourist frequented locations in India, and the impact it has had on the local aboriginal community of Hanjis who are dependent on the Lake for their livelihoods. Rapid urbanization has led to shrinking in the area of the Lake and deterioration in water quality, coupled with increasing exploitation of natural resource available. Ironically, most of the over-exploitation of resources and pollution of the lake is attributable to the Hanjis themselves as they are unable to perceive the harm their community is likely to face in the long-run of these actions as economic sustenance and livelihoods of this community is completely dependent on the well-being of the Lake. There is a need for taking immediate action both from the Hanjis community, as well as from the government, and a need for them to work collectively. Participatory development efforts in planning need to be taken up as the focus of managing the challenge rather than strict restrictions and enforcement alone by the government, and complete ignorant attitude of the local community. Most Hanjis feel they have been alienated from development plan preparation for conservation of the Dal Lake, which has in turn led them to over-exploit the lake's resources as the sense of attachment and reliance is not there. --Hanjis Hanjis Hanjis Hanjis Keywords Land use, transformation, Dal lake, hanjis Article Environment and Urbanization ASIA 4(1) 73-92 Environment and Urbanization ASiA, 4, 1 (2013): 73-92