LAND USE CHANGE AND PERCEPTION MAPPING ON THE DYNAMICS OF LIVELIHOODS IN THE SATELLITE TOWN, SRIPERUMBUDUR, CHENNAI

There has been tremendous uncontrolled growth on the population worldwide due to various developmental activities happening due to industrial and commercial developments in the urban areas. These developments have in turn affected the air, water and soil quality of the region. Unplanned growth in the urban areas otherwise called as sprawl has affected the urban green spaces which act as major lung spaces of the city. They help us in improving the air quality, providing shade and shelter for the birds and some animals. They are the major source of oxygen and also provide various recreational and aesthetic qualities. Cities and peri -urban settlements must be prepared to meet the challenge of unplanned settlement or slum formation. The move towards satellite cities promises to bring greater automation, intelligent routing and transportation, better monitoring and better city management. As this planned town is located in the suburbs of Chennai, rapid growth of commercial, industrial and residential developments take place in this region. The development of the satellite town will create an enormous change in the land use which in turn will create a disturbance in the local rural inhabitants. Hence an effort was taken to understand the changing pattern of the land use and the impact of the change on the local people. Due to increase in commercial and functional activities agricultural lands have converted for these purposes. There has been an increase in the migratory population from other parts of Tamil Nadu and from different parts of the country as well. At first demographic structure and its related changing occupational pattern have been analysed and a perception survey has been undertaken by the authors to measure the level of satisfaction/dissatisfaction and to explain the factors behind it. Various methods including mapping of land use/ land cover change and statistical analysis have been used for this perception mapping to give some understanding on the role of geo-informatics to be used for future planning. A careful study has been made to observe the effect of land use change on the socio-economic conditions of the satellite city, Sriperumbudur in Chennai.