Monday 26 February 2018

Growth of Urban Sprawl in Lucknow

Cities often experience growth either physically, by population, or by a combination of both.  Urban sprawl refers to the migration of a population from populated towns and cities to low density residential development over more and more rural land.  The end result is the expansion of the city limits and growth of suburbs. Urban sprawl in recent times is a subject of popular debate between policy makers and environmentalists due to the increased pressure on infrastructure, congested traffic, environmental degradation and shortage of housing in these areas. 


This article discusses the characteristics, causes and effects of urban sprawl in India.

Characteristics of Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl is defined as low density residential and commercial development on undeveloped land. Sprawl is also considered to be an unplanned outgrowth of urban areas along the periphery of the cities, along highways, and along the road connecting city. It also refers to the outgrowth of urban areas caused by uncontrolled, uncoordinated and unplanned urban growth. Migration and urban sprawl go hand in hand and have become increasingly common in cities like Lucknow over the last few decades. 

Causes of Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl can be caused due to different reasons.  These causes will mainly include:
Lower Land Rates: Lower land and property prices in outer suburbs of cities like Lucknow, have made people want to stop settling in congested core city areas and want to venture further out.
Improved Infrastructure: When the government spends more on improved infrastructure like roads and mass transit systems connecting far flung areas in the city, people get motivated to shift to these areas for better facilities with fewer crowd. 

Rise in Standard of Living: As standards of living improve and the average family income increases, people have the ability to pay more to travel and commute longer distances to work and back home. This encourages them to shift to sub urban areas where they can buy better and bigger houses.
Lack of Urban Planning: Congested core city areas with unprecedented development, fewer tress, lack of green cover, traffic jams, and poor infrastructure force people to move out to new areas. This is the reason why many new residential projects in Lucknow have developed in and around suburban areas like Amar Shaheed Path, Hazratganj and Gomti Nagar. People generally prefer to live in areas that are less trafficked and calmer. This leads to the growth of urban sprawls.
Lower House Tax Rates: Property taxes and other taxes are usually lower in the suburb. To avoid paying higher taxes, people may be encouraged to shift to these areas.
Rise in Population Growth: With increasing population growth the pressure on the city's civic infrastructure rises. As a city grows beyond capacity, the local communities continue to spread farther from city centers.
Consumer Preferences: Often higher income group people prefer to buy larger homes with more bedrooms, bigger balconies and bigger lawns. Properties that are newly developed in suburban areas usually have high end facilities due to higher availability of land and FAR. This also causes urban sprawl as this option is not available in crowded cities.

Effects of Urban Sprawl

It is important to know both the causes and effects of urban sprawl in order to understand urban planning issues in a given city. Some of the effects of urban sprawl are discussed below.
Increase in Public Expenditure: With growth in urban sprawl, public expenditure also increases building infrastructure and providing amenities in these areas. 

Increased Traffic: Urban sprawls lead to more traffic on the roads, more air pollution and more accidents that need to be dealt with.
Environmental Issues: When urban hinterlands are developed more of agricultural land gets converted to residential and other uses. This reduces green cover and increases environmental issues.
Impact on Social Lives: When people move to low density areas, there is inevitably effect on their social lives.  They don’t have neighbors that live as close, which means that they won’t really stay as social as they should. 

As long as there is urban development, expansion of city limits is inevitable as more people shift to the outskirts for improved living environment. While, urban sprawl has its own disadvantages, the positive outcome is that it leads to less overcrowding in central city areas. While some may find this useful, others may want to steer clear of it. However, it will happen naturally unless development control regulations are brought into place by the government.
Summary: Urban Sprawls are a common phenomenon witnessed in Indian cities these days. This article gives insight into the causes and effects of urban sprawl.