164
accommodate the growing population, resulting in urban sprawl (Sierra Club 1998).
Due to expansion of towns and cities beyond their limits and into their fringe areas
and peripheries, it resulted in increasing urban population (Mosammam et al. 2017).
Because of the increasing rate of global urbanization in intensity and area, there is a
mounting interest in thoughtful implications with respect to a broad set of environmental factors containing encroachment of arable land (Lopez et al. 2001), change
and loss of natural vegetation and climate at the global, regional and local level
(Grimm et al. 2000). At the earlier stage of urban development, the movement of
people or migration happened in the inner part of the city, but later on when the
urban area grows and passing through different stages of urban development, i.e.
from town to city and city to metropolitan, the people then wish to live in the outer
part of the city core due to traffic congestion and increase of land rent. The uncontrolled expansion of urban areas is known as urban sprawl (Basu and Dhar 2013).
A change in functional structure in rural areas is another cause of new urban area
development (Clark 1982). Urban sprawl is considered as a spatial population process where towns and cities are playing significant roles in the distribution of population (Dadras et al. 2015). This process increases the population in the villages and
in the countryside. Usually, this outgrowth plays a vital role for the creation of a new
human habitat which may be regarded as the process of the establishment of human
society, to towns and cities. This rapid increase of residences around the city
encroaches the large portion of agricultural land which may cause environmental
degradation of the concerned areas (Bhatta et al. 2010). This activity is more common in developing countries than in developed countries (Baker 2007). These
encroachments on natural resources (agricultural land, mountainous area and watershed area) cause the temperature to rise to high levels, disturbances in natural ecosystem (Dadras et al. 2015) and deterioration of the environment quickly, basically
in developing counties (Shafiq et al. 2016). Eventually, engulfing vegetation cover,
encroaching agricultural land and destruction of natural resource were considered as
rising problems due to increase of urban expansion (Hedblom and Soderstrom 2008;
Iqbal and Khan 2014; Weng 2001). However, in the process of urbanization or the
process of urban sprawl, population growth plays as key factor. The main causes of
the population increase are natural growth and migration. According to Basu and
Dhar (2013), after the independence of India, the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA)
has experienced a huge migration flow from Bangladesh in different phases which
accounted for the influx of 31.32 million refugees from 1946 to 1958 in West Bengal.
Among them a large number of refugees entered in the KMA. It is accounted 50,000
and 6 lakhs in-migrant came in KMA during 1958–1963 and 1964–1971, respectively. There are various reasons behind the urbanization, not only the refugee influx
but also the natural growth, emergence of new cities, rural to urban migration and
conversion of rural area into urban (Kundu 2003).
The use of remote sensing technology to detect land use and land cover changes
has a long history and has made progress. Land use is a major challenge and issue
for researchers and planners as well as environmentalists planning an eco-friendly
and sustainable economic growth (Singh 1989; Jensen 1996; Coppin et al. 2004; Lu
et al. 2004; Liu et al. 2008; Dewan and Yamaguchi 2009; Dewan et al. 2012; Wei
Rukhsana and Md. Hasnine
accommodate the growing population, resulting in urban sprawl (Sierra Club 1998).
Due to expansion of towns and cities beyond their limits and into their fringe areas
and peripheries, it resulted in increasing urban population (Mosammam et al. 2017).
Because of the increasing rate of global urbanization in intensity and area, there is a
mounting interest in thoughtful implications with respect to a broad set of environmental factors containing encroachment of arable land (Lopez et al. 2001), change
and loss of natural vegetation and climate at the global, regional and local level
(Grimm et al. 2000). At the earlier stage of urban development, the movement of
people or migration happened in the inner part of the city, but later on when the
urban area grows and passing through different stages of urban development, i.e.
from town to city and city to metropolitan, the people then wish to live in the outer
part of the city core due to traffic congestion and increase of land rent. The uncontrolled expansion of urban areas is known as urban sprawl (Basu and Dhar 2013).
A change in functional structure in rural areas is another cause of new urban area
development (Clark 1982). Urban sprawl is considered as a spatial population process where towns and cities are playing significant roles in the distribution of population (Dadras et al. 2015). This process increases the population in the villages and
in the countryside. Usually, this outgrowth plays a vital role for the creation of a new
human habitat which may be regarded as the process of the establishment of human
society, to towns and cities. This rapid increase of residences around the city
encroaches the large portion of agricultural land which may cause environmental
degradation of the concerned areas (Bhatta et al. 2010). This activity is more common in developing countries than in developed countries (Baker 2007). These
encroachments on natural resources (agricultural land, mountainous area and watershed area) cause the temperature to rise to high levels, disturbances in natural ecosystem (Dadras et al. 2015) and deterioration of the environment quickly, basically
in developing counties (Shafiq et al. 2016). Eventually, engulfing vegetation cover,
encroaching agricultural land and destruction of natural resource were considered as
rising problems due to increase of urban expansion (Hedblom and Soderstrom 2008;
Iqbal and Khan 2014; Weng 2001). However, in the process of urbanization or the
process of urban sprawl, population growth plays as key factor. The main causes of
the population increase are natural growth and migration. According to Basu and
Dhar (2013), after the independence of India, the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA)
has experienced a huge migration flow from Bangladesh in different phases which
accounted for the influx of 31.32 million refugees from 1946 to 1958 in West Bengal.
Among them a large number of refugees entered in the KMA. It is accounted 50,000
and 6 lakhs in-migrant came in KMA during 1958–1963 and 1964–1971, respectively. There are various reasons behind the urbanization, not only the refugee influx
but also the natural growth, emergence of new cities, rural to urban migration and
conversion of rural area into urban (Kundu 2003).
The use of remote sensing technology to detect land use and land cover changes
has a long history and has made progress. Land use is a major challenge and issue
for researchers and planners as well as environmentalists planning an eco-friendly
and sustainable economic growth (Singh 1989; Jensen 1996; Coppin et al. 2004; Lu
et al. 2004; Liu et al. 2008; Dewan and Yamaguchi 2009; Dewan et al. 2012; Wei
Rukhsana and Md. Hasnine