Geographical analysis

Abstract

Rapid urbanization, population pressure and the governmental, housing, infrastructural, institutional, industrial and commercial needs of a fast growing city have stretched the land delivery system in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, to a breaking point. Agricultural lands, particularly crop and cultivable fallow lands, and waterbodies which serve as the main sources of livelihoods, have been encroached upon by the land use changes processes. This paper seeks to assess the impact of rapid urbanization on agricultural lands in developing cities, drawing empirical evidence from Madurai, India.As in others metropolitan areas, we expect the growth of residential land use and this is recognized being very important for economic and ecological planning. Urban pressure from Madurai metropolitan area has the result of decreasing importance of agriculture in the local economy.Several areas will preserve the agricultural features, mainly with vegetables, flowers or cereals. Nearer to Madurai arable land has been transformed into mainly built-up areas, because of escalating level land prices.

Key words: Change detection, agricultural lands, built-up area, fallow land, urban impacts, remote sensing analysis