Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Modeling Earth Systems and Environment https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-020-00985-6 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Modelling urban growth using Urban growth deterministic model in Kolkata Metropolitan Area: a geo‑statistical approach Sushobhan Majumdar 1  · Uday Chatterjee 2 Received: 10 May 2020 / Accepted: 3 October 2020 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract Urbanization and urban growth have been categorized as one of the key indicators of development in most of the cities of the World. The rate of urban growth is more rapid in developing countries than the developed countries. India is one of the developed countries and Kolkata is one of the major cities in India, where this study has been carried out. Kolkata city has been developing very fast in recent decades because of huge infrastructural development from the end of the Nineteenth cen- tury. Peripheral areas of Kolkata city are more unplanned than the city core areas which are the main obstacles to transform Kolkata city into a smart city. The objective of this study is to identify the spatial determinants of urban growth in Kolkata city. This study introduces a model, namely, Urban Growth Deterministic Model to control the rate of urbanization and urban growth. For the analysis, both satellite images and statistical analysis have been done. Findings reveal that among the factors population density, male workforce, female workforce, secondary workers, waste land, built-up area, availability of bus service and railway service are the major determinants of urban growth in Kolkata city.This study will help the policy makers to formulate policies to minimize various problems of Kolkata city which will be helpful for future planning and management of the area. Keywords Determinant · Urban growth · Determinants of Urban growth · Smart City Introduction Urbanization is mainly a process of an area to become urbanized. By this process, the semi-urban area or rural area can be transformed into an urban area. So, it is one of the major indicators of global change and development. At present time, nearly 54% of the people live in urban areas, but according to the population projection of the United Nations, nearly 66% of the people will live in urban areas by 2050 (United Nations 2014). Because of the diferent facilities with the infrastructural growth and development, the pressure of population is relatively high in the urban areas than the rural areas. According to the United Nations, almost half of the world’s population are residing in urban areas or nearby to the cities. Among the countries in the world, the rate of urban growth is high in the developing countries rather than the developed countries which are mainly because of the huge infrastructural developments in urban areas, migration of the people to urban areas, etc. (Sui and Zeng 2000). Because of rapid urban growth, land use is changing very fast (Angel et al. 2011; Marshall 2007; Seto et al. 2011; Majumdar 2019; Seto et al. 2010). According to Seto et al. (2012), if this trend continues, then the rate of built-up will be almost tripled within next decades. Many studies have been focussing on the spatial determi- nants of urban growth. To identify the determinants of urban growth, diferent variables have been used like proximity indicators (Li et al. 2013; Luo and Wei 2009; Schnaiberg et al. 2002; Yehand Xia 2001), topological factors (Dewan and Yamaguchi 2009; Jenerette et al. 2007; Pijanowski et al. 2010; Tian et al. 2012), neighbourhood variables (Carrion- Flores and Irwin 2004; Gustafson et al. 2005; Jiang et al. 2013; Rui and Ban 2011), variables among socio-economic * Uday Chatterjee raj.chatterjee459@gmail.com Sushobhan Majumdar sushobhan91@gmail.com 1 Department of Geography, Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India 2 Department of Geography, Bhatter College, Dantan, Vidyasagar University, Paschim Medinipur 721 426, West Bengal, India