Dynamics of urban growth pattern and urban hierarchy, a case study for North Central Province of Sri Lanka

Abstract

The present population of Sri Lanka in the year 2007 is 19.88 millions. The urban population is 21.5% of total population. According to the proposed urban development policies of the country, the urban population will be 60% of total population in the year 2030. When the urban population increases, the existing urban areas will be grown accordingly. The urban growth will happen due to many reasons, because of population increase, increase in production levels of town areas and increase in service levels etc. The urban growth pattern of a region will be in different ways. Sometimes it will be the sprawl of existing town, sometimes it emerge new towns and will develop a small town into a large urban area or the large urban area will be neglected due to many reasons with the emerge of new town. According to the national physical planning policies of the country, it has proposed five major urban metropolises The North Central Metropolis is a major concern in the proposed physical plan' when we considering the available resources, climatic condition and natural hazards of NCP; it has high capacity for future developments of the Country. Then it is very important to assess the future development trends and to propose suitable plans for the province in the urban planning point of view. Then this research will be study on the existing urban growth pattern of NCP and will discuss the dynamics of urban growth pattern and will try to identify an appropriate future urban hierarchy for the province.