ABSTRACT
Urbanization characterizes the physical growth of a town, city, or a region with the influx of population due to improved job opportunities, infrastructure and basic amenities. This chapter assesses spatial patterns of land use land cover dynamics in the rapidly urbanizing landscape of Bangalore, an IT capital of India with an administrative area of 741 sq km. It provides a brief review of literatures highlighting the advancements in the domain, followed by the methods to understanding the urban dynamics and the implications of unplanned urbanization. The chapter presents a case study of rapidly urbanizing landscape and simulates the likely changes in the future. Landscapes undergo transitions in the structure either due to natural events or human induced activities. Transitions from towns to cities, cities to larger agglomerations, were evident during the 19th century with the industrial revolution. Peri-urban regions which are experiencing sprawl also lack basic amenities, having severe impacts on the local ecology and environment.
