Analysis of urban growth pattern using remote sensing and GIS: a case study of Kolkata, India

Urban growth pattern has a direct influence on urban development processes both at the city and neighbourhood levels, but on the other hand growth pattern is also affected by land and housing policy, current built-up area, available developable area, change in household count, population, economy, and others. Remote sensing and GIS techniques can be used to analyse and model the urban growth pattern. This study was carried out to identify and analyse the urban growth pattern of Kolkata, India. Several statistical methods were applied to recognize and analyse this pattern, which shows increasing dispersed development of the city with the declining population growth rate. Apart from the derived results, this study also shows the potentiality of remote sensing and GIS techniques for the analysis of urban growth patterns.