Modeling dynamics of peri-urban interface based on principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA): a study of English Bazar Urban Agglomeration, West Bengal

Outward growth of large and medium size cities brings gradual changes in landuse/landcover which transforms the surrounding rural area to semi-urban or peri-urban area. But there is no such consensus regarding the definition of peri-urban region and its causes. It is normally defined as the settlements beyond, about or around core cities. These areas are characterized by the spillover developments of the core cities. Therefore, the present study attempts to develop suitable method to explore the growth dynamics of changing peri-urban interface with the help of some spatial and non-spatial data of peri-urban areas of English Bazar Urban Agglomeration (U.A). The study employs different techniques such as traditional statistical techniques (multivariate analysis), PCA classification and spatial analysis followed by cluster analysis. Thirteen buffer zones were created around the city with each of 1 km width. The final result shows that, the first six buffer zones are differing from the other zones in terms of different characteristics. Therefore, these six kilometer buffer zones are considered as peri-urban areas of English Bazar city.