Today, India still remains a rural agricultural country although the share of urban population has also increased but these figures do not tell the whole story. There are evidences that urban growth is dispersed and urban sprawl promotes the spread of urban land use into the rural-urban fringe. Here the attempt is to investigate the land transformation and the driving forces which were influencing the land transformation. The present study was done on peri urban interface of Aligarh city, a relatively small city, but as other north Indian cities, it is also expanding rapidly. Moreover, it too is surrounded by a populous rural area with productive and rich agricultural hinterland. Such conditions give rise to many conflicts and mutually beneficial complementarities in the rural and urban spheres. The result shows that the demand for land is high which results in informal urban development fulfilling the requirements of many of the city’s residents. Every piece of land is a tradable commodity, and the pursuit of short-term profits is the predominant ethic. The actors in PUI are strong because it is characterized by intermixing of rural and urban activities and interests as well as the number of actors are greater than in any other area. .

Today, India still remains a rural agricultural country although the share of urban population has also increased but these figures do not tell the whole story. There are evidences that urban growth is dispersed and urban sprawl promotes the spread of urban land use into the rural-urban fringe. Here the attempt is to investigate the land transformation and the driving forces which were influencing the land transformation. The present study was done on peri urban interface of Aligarh city, a relatively small city, but as other north Indian cities, it is also expanding rapidly. Moreover, it too is surrounded by a populous rural area with productive and rich agricultural hinterland. Such conditions give rise to many conflicts and mutually beneficial complementarities in the rural and urban spheres. The result shows that the demand for land is high which results in informal urban development fulfilling the requirements of many of the city’s residents. Every piece of land is a tradable commodity, and the pursuit of short-term profits is the predominant ethic. The actors in PUI are strong because it is characterized by intermixing of rural and urban activities and interests as well as the number of actors are greater than in any other area. .

As the world's population exceeds an incredible 6 billion people, governmentsâ€"and scientistsâ€"everywhere are concerned about the prospects for sustainable development. The science academies of the three most populous countries have joined forces in an unprecedented effort to understand the linkage between population growth and land-use change, and its implications for the future. By examining six sites ranging from agricultural to intensely urban to areas in transition, the multinational study panel asks how population growth and consumption directly cause land-use change, and explore the general nature of the forces driving the transformations. Growing Populations, Changing Landscapes explains how disparate government policies with unintended consequences and globalization effects that link local land-use changes to consumption patterns and labor policies in distant countries can be far more influential than simple numerical population increases. Recognizing the importance of these linkages can be a significant step toward more effective environmental management.

This valuable book summarizes recent research by experts from both the natural and social sciences on the effects of population growth on land use. It is a useful introduction to a field in which little quantitative research has been conducted and in which there is a great deal of public controversy. The book includes case studies of African, Asian, and Latin American countries that demonstrate the varied effects of population growth on land use. Several general chapters address the following timely questions: What is meant by land use change? Why are ecological research and population studies so different? What are the implications for sustainable growth in agricultural production? Although much work remains to be done in quantifying the causal connections between demographic and land use changes, this book provides important insights into those connections, and it should stimulate more work in this area.

Increasing urbanisation and industrial development are occurring at the expense of shrinking forest cover and agricultural land in South Asia. Various land uses compete with each other, reducing forests and farmlands. This book addresses urbanisation and peri-urban land markets, with a special focus on Bangalore, one of the fastest growing cities in South Asia. It contributes to historic perspectives on the spatial transformation of peri-urban locales, as well as providing much-needed empirical evidence. The book discusses issues related to the context of peri-urban land use, land transactions, demand supply relationships and land prices in the peri-urban land market. The steep rise in land prices of the periphery, rapid changes in land use patterns, active land transactions, growth of the real estate market and the challenge to implement efficient land use regulations are explored with the help of field evidence. Insights and challenges to land administration addressed in this book are common to other metropolitan cities, and the key message is that a separate peri-urban land policy is required for the major metropolitan cities of India and other developing countries. The book contributes to the understanding of how these spatial markets function in order to work towards an improved implementation of land policy in the context of dynamic rural-urban periphery. As such, it will appeal to researchers, scholars and students of regional, urban and agricultural economics, economic geography, urban and regional planning and environmental science. It will also be of great interest to city planners and policy makers, action-based think tanks focused on urban governance.

Watersheds have been widely recognized as the best scale at which to govern water. At the geographic scale of the watersheds, stakeholders are able to make decisions on how to manage water resources in a setting more conducive to participation. Through coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources, economic and social welfare can be optimized without compromising sustainability of vital environmental systems. Sungai Selangor is an important water resource for the state of Selangor. It is the major contributor in meeting water demand to the Selangor State and Kuala Lumpur. Since early days, Sungai Selangor has played a central role in the development of settlements in northern Selangor. Theresearch described here is an attempt to understand the development forces operating in the Sungai Selangor watershed. The approach taken is intentionally multi-disciplinary, as it attempts to paint a broad brush picture of the current situation within the Sungai Selangor watershed. Increasing pressures on land development is a major factor that causes land use conflicts in the watershed. Spatial-environmental governance should improve collaboration and connections between citizens and decision-makers at the watershed scale. Many issues within the economic, social or environmental realm necessitate an understanding of the spatial context within which such forces operate. The book is organized in ten chapters, each chapter being devoted towards addressing particular issues considered prevalent or outstanding within the community living within the watershed. Although the book has been written in an academic manner, it should also appeal to the general public and students in higher education institutions as it relates to topical issues. Beginner researchers may find that the discussion of various issues within a location-specific context might spark off their interest to begin their own research on particular aspects that appeal to their own area of expertise.

Population, Land Use, and Environment: Research Directions offers recommendations for future research to improve understanding of how changes in human populations affect the natural environment by means of changes in land use, such as deforestation, urban development, and development of coastal zones. It also features a set of state-of-the-art papers by leading researchers that analyze population-land useenvironment relationships in urban and rural settings in developed and underdeveloped countries and that show how remote sensing and other observational methods are being applied to these issues. This book will serve as a resource for researchers, research funders, and students.

This festschrift honours Prof. Rana P.B. Singh who has dedicated his life to teaching and conducting research on cultural geography with a ‘dweller Indian perspective’. The book focuses on the cultural geographies of India, and to an extent that of South Asia. It is a rich collection of 23 essays on the themes apprised by him, covering landscapes, religion, heritage, pilgrimage and tourism, and human settlements.

This edited volume discuses urban transport issues, policies, and initiatives in twelve of the world’s major emerging economies – Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, and Vietnam - countries with large populations that have recently experienced large changes in urban structure, motorization and all the associated social, economic, and environmental impacts in positive and negative senses. Contributions on each of these twelve countries focus on one or more major cities per country. This book aims to fill a gap in the transport literature that is crucial to understanding the needs of a large portion of the world’s urban population, especially in view of the southward shift in economic power. Readers will develop a better understanding of urban transport problems and policies in nations where development levels are below those of richer countries (mainly in the northern hemisphere) but where the rate of economic growth is often increasing at a faster rate than the wealthiest nations.

As cities are rapidly expanding and encroaching into agricultural and natural areas, a question of primary concern is how this expansion affects surrounding agriculture and natural landscapes. This book presents a wide spectrum of both theoretical and empirical approaches to simulation and assessment of landscape dynamics. The first part presents state-of-the-art modelling approaches pertaining to land-use changes entailed by the urban sprawl, at different spatial resolutions and temporal time scales. The second part is dedicated to case studies of the effects and consequences of the emerging urban-agriculture open space patterns.