Impact of urban land use change and its impact on environment

Cities and towns are expanding in India as never before. Some of the causes of this fast expansion
include population growth, economy and proximity to resources and basic amenities. The direct
implication of such urban expansion is the change in land use and land cover of the region.
Identification of the patterns of urban expansion and analyses of spatial and temporal changes
would help immensely in the conservation of agricultural land.

Urbanization occurs inside city and outside its boundaries. Extensive population growthwithin a city
may require city officials to upgrade the existing urbaninfrastructure. Officials initially managed this
growth by annexing developingareas and expanding the boundaries of the municipality. This
expanded areaoften gobbles up fertile agricultural land. This phenomenon is not limited tobig cities
only. It is occurring in small towns as well as this study shows.

The aimof this paper is to highlight the use androle of space technology in the analysisand
monitoring of urban spatial expansion at the cost of agriculture land.Planners and policy makers can
use this data for sustainable rural and urbancoexistence and growth. For this study recent satellite
images andtopographical sheets number 53H/2, 6, 10, 11 and 15 were used procured fromSurvey of
India.

Patternsof expansion and analyses of spatial and temporal changes could be done costeffectively
and efficiently with the help of spatial and temporal technologiessuch as Geographic Information
System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) along withcollateral data. GIS and remote sensing
technologies are very useful in theformulation and implementation of the land related component
of the sustainabledevelopment strategy.


The spatial patterns of urban expansion over different timeperiods, can be systematically mapped,
monitored and accurately assessed fromsatellite data along with conventional ground data. Mapping
of urban expansionon agricultural land provides a clear picture of loss of agricultural land.Rapid loss
of agricultural land is a serious issue which needs attention beforethe situation gets out of hand.