Vol.:(0123456789) SN Soc Sci (2021) 1:265 https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00271-x ORIGINAL PAPER Spatial variations in the level of development in Barrackpore Subdivisional region, India: a micro‑scale study using composite index and clustering approach Sandipta Das 1 Received: 21 November 2020 / Accepted: 5 October 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Abstract Socio-economic development replicates the improvement of physical and social infrastructure, which aims to enhance the quality of life across society; however, the distribution of development level is not uniform across regions. This article is an attempt to present the pattern of development level from 1971 to 2011 census year concerning the town and village location in the Barrackpore Subdivisional region as a micro-scale study. Based on various secondary data from the census handbook, a composite score Index has been executed to measure spatiotemporal development. Three types of domains have been selected to estimate the range distribution among rural and urban places such as demographic development, economic development, and infrastructural development for the analysis. The result shows the disparities exist within the urban towns and intra-village areas. Municipal towns were catego- rized ranks to illustrate development array during the period because municipal towns have their statutory boundaries. The geographic Information System tool was used to create the hotspot and cold spot cluster areas of development and mapping out the rural–urban integration across the study area. Application of Getis-Ord Gi* statistics indicated that most of the hotspot zone cluster was created in urban munic- ipal areas where the cold spot was formed in the village areas during the frst period (1971), wherein 2011 hotspot cluster has observed within some village areas. But still, there would need to improve the quality of life in both urban and rural places in consideration of every indicator to increase the development. The local govern- ment should initiate sustainable planning and policy for balance development and promote demographic, economic, and infrastructural indicators in those areas where coldspot cluster zones are formed. Keywords Development variations · Composite score · Hotspot and cluster analysis · Barrackpore Subdivision * Sandipta Das sandiptadas25@gmail.com 1 Department of Geography, Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri 574 199, India