Characterizing Urban Sprawl of a Rapidly Growing Non-Metro Region in India: A Geospatial-Based Landscape Metrics Analysis for Salem, India

Unrestrained urbanisation is a significant challenge to sustainable development, particularly in rapidly developing countries like India. Widespread informal urbanisation in resource-poor areas leads to inadequate urban physical infrastructures like housing, transportation, water supply, and waste management. In this context, generating cost-effective information on urban sprawl patterns can assist planners in proactively enhancing physical Infrastructure and efficiently orienting urban development. However, the existing research on urban sprawl has predominantly focused on the large megapolises, leading to an extensive knowledge gap on non-metro regions that also experience significant urban development pressure. This study addresses this gap by focusing on the Salem region in Tamil Nadu, India. The study uses freely available remote sensing data and GIS-based landscape metrics to describe Salem and nearby urban centers' growth patterns from 2000 to 2020. The study methodology includes three primary analyses: i) Buffer analysis to fix the urban growth threshold around each town; ii) Centroid shift analysis to identify the macro urbanisation pattern; and iii) Landscape metrics analysis for micro-level urban growth characterisation. The study results show that the neighbouring towns influence Salem's growth. The Omalur's directional growth and proximity suggest it could become a Salem satellite town in the coming decades. These findings provide essential inputs for planning a more sustainable Salem city and contribute to the current literature gap on the sprawl characteristics of India's non-metro cities.