Identification of Desakota Region and Urban Growth Analysis in Patna City, India Using Remote Sensing Data and GIS

In India, the urban population is likely to be 40% of its total population by the year 2030. In such a scenario, managing urban areas is a challenge for planners in terms of developing sustainable infrastructures and addressing environmental issues. The transitional areas in the surroundings of the peripheral region of large and growing cities are called Desakota. Monitoring of such areas is essential as these provide the foundation for future urban establishments. This study tried to identify and assess the peripheral growth of Patna city, a megacity of the state of Bihar in India together with new developing urban areas by applying well-established image classification techniques on the multi-temporal Landsat satellite images of the years 1995, 2005 and 2015. Analysis of the LULC revealed a significant built-up growth in an elongated shape preferably on the upland areas. We also observed an increase in vegetation class area which is in fact due to the increased practice of agricultural plantation in low-lying areas and along the river course. Moreover, the study identified the Desakota regions for different periods, mainly along the major roads in the periphery of the city. The results were validated in the field using GPS based field survey.