Delineating fringe by global diversity value : A case study on Barasat municipality, India

Urbanization is a gift to the human civilization when it is planned, controlled, and coordinated. Unplanned, physical expansion of city is responsible for various adverse effects. Evidently all kinds of urban development take place in the fringe areas, where urban meets rural. In this process, a region which was once rural, comes in close contact with the rapidly growing city and gets converted into a transitional area and acquires the fringe character. This fringe area is gradually taken up by the urban areas forcing the fringe to shift outward from the city centre. Scientific urban and environmental planning demands proper demarcation of fringe and understanding of its dynamicity. But the concept of ‘fringe’ suffers from a problem of not having any universally accepted definition and methodology for demarcation. In this study attempts have been made to delineate fringe, which happens to develop within the administrative boundary, based on land use diversity.