URBAN-GROWTH TREND ANALYSIS USING GIS TECHNIQUES - A CASE-STUDY OF THE BOMBAY METROPOLITAN REGION

Towns and cities in India are facing complex problems regarding the pr ovision and maintenance of services and infrastructure in the face of the rapid growth of pupulation, caused both by natural increase and mi gration. In order to meet such challenges a planner needs to have fair ly accurate and up-to-date information, especially about physical stru ctures and related land parameters. A study of their trends generally helps in the understanding of the emerging growth pattern and in formu lating policies to guide or redirect it. Recent advances in the field of remote sensing technology and computer based Geographical Informati on Systems (GIS) provide very useful tools in undertaking such analysi s. The results from a study about growth trends of the urban areas in the Bombay Metropolitan Region using multi-date remote sensing data an d ARC/INFO GIS package are described here. The period under considerat ion is from 1968 to 1989. It should be noted that the major growth in the region is confined to Greater Bombay between 1968 to 1975. After t he year 1975, a distinct outward growth along the rail corridors is vi sible. Growth after 1975 is mainly in the Kalyan, Bhiwandi, New Bombay and Panvel areas and in the area around Manori creek (Charkop area). The growth rate is found to be higher after the year 1975 compared to the prior growth rate. The spatial growth trends are examined in relat ion to the population and the population density has been computed for different periods, Based upon these densities, the extent of land req uired for urban development for the year 2001 has been calculated. Sui tability of land for urbanisation has been carried out based upon phys ical characteristics of the land and environmental parameters. The pri ority areas of urban development to meet the additional requirement in 2001 have been identified on the basis of this suitability analysis. A map on a 1:250000 scale has been prepared to show the areas for urba nisation which will meet the demands for the year 2001. This study dem onstrates the potential offered by the integration of the tools of rem ote sensing and GIS for urban and regional planning.