Spatial Process of Urbanization in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Date
2009
Authors
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Publisher
Faculy of Environmental Science
Abstract
Urbanization is a complex spatial process that converts rural land uses to urban
uses, and causes various impacts on ecosystem structures, functions, dynamics, and the
livelihoods of human beings. Kathmandu Valley, the most populous metropolitan region in
Nepal, has been rapidly urbanizing since the 1980s. Due to the urbanization pressure, the
valley has been facing serious environmental consequences in recent years. Therefore, the
quantification of the spatial process of urbanization is essential for the monitoring and
assessment of the changing environment of the valley. This research aims to investigate the
spatial pattern of urbanization since the 1960s and identify the driving factors of
urbanization. Remote sensing, geographic information systems, spatial metrics, analytic
hierarchy process, and fieldwork techniques were applied in order to prepare time series
land use maps, interpret spatial pattern changes, and analyze the urbanization process.
A highly dynamic spatial pattern of urbanization is observed in the valley. The
urban built-up areas, which are used as an indicator of urbanization, had a slow trend of
growth in the 1960s and 1970s but have grown rapidly since the 1980s. Prime agricultural
land in the valley floor has been changed to urban/built-up areas. Shrubs and forest
landscapes in rural areas mostly changed into agricultural uses, while half of the land in the
valley has remained agricultural. Nominal land use transitions between the other land use
types in the valley were also noticed. The urbanization process of individual uncontrolled
housing practices has developed fragmented and heterogeneous land use combinations in
the valley, but urban growth has gradually become more synchronized in recent decades.
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However, a refill type of development process in the city core and immediate fringe areas
has shown a decreasing trend of the neighborhood distances between the different land
uses, and an increasing trend of physical connectedness, which indicates a higher
probability of homogenous landscape development in the upcoming decades.
The dynamic pattern of urbanization, particularly for the last decade, has been
greatly influenced by seven driving factors: physical conditions, public service
accessibility, economic opportunities, land market, population growth, political situation,
and plans and policies. These factors have played important but different roles in the core,
fringe, and rural areas. Among these factors, economic opportunities in the core,
population growth in the fringe, and the political situation in the rural areas are identified
as the highest impact factors of urbanization. The physical conditions factor has had the
least effect in the core and fringe areas as compared to its role in the rural areas. The role
of public service accessibility gradually decreased from city core to rural area. Due to the
lower land availability in the city core, the land market factor had less of a role in the core
compared to the fringe and rural areas. The plans and policies factor is evaluated as less
effective in all thematic areas.
This empirical analysis revealed the spatial process of urbanization in the valley,
which is an important reference for the urban and regional planners in Nepal and other less
developed countries. Furthermore, the research results form an important data source for
predicting urban growth dynamics and scenario analysis.
Keywords: Land Use Change, Analytic Hierarchy Process, Spatial Metrics, Driving Factor
Modeling, Hybrid Method, Urban Remote Sensing, LULC, GIScience.
Description
Keywords
Land Use Change, Analytic Hierarchy Process, Spatial Metrics, Hybrid Method