An Investigation of Urban Expansion and Environmental Impacts in a Class I City of Eastern India: A Geospatial Perspective

Unplanned urbanization is a severe challenge for Class I cities in eastern India where ecologically fragile lands and fast-growing populations converge.Without proper regulatory planning, settlement diffusion has grown more and more random, especially on the urban periphery in a rapidly growing Class I city of West Bengal.The core of the city remains densely crowded, while the population mean centre lies in the middle, showing intense population pressure.This external expansion pattern has caused intensive changes in land use and land covers (LULCs), characterized by the persistent decrease of vegetation cover, wetlands and water bodies with an accelerating increase of built-up and agricultural land.These spatial transformations, detected through systematic multispectral imageries and demographic analysis, expose the ecological implications of uncontrolled urban expansion.These involve loss of habitat, enhanced surface runoff, reduced groundwater recharge and stress on civic infrastructures.The absence of strategic urban administration further aggravates these concerns, exposing the long-term socio-environmental degradation.This study highlights ongoing expansion risks undermining the environmental resilience and general liveability of fast-expanding cities in the region without structured approaches.It underscores the critical need for comprehensive urban planning strategies that address both population dynamics and ecological sustainability.