GIS assisted urban spatial structure analysis : a case study of Colombo, Sri Lanka | |
| Author | Manawadu, Lasantha |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.HS-94-18 |
| Subject(s) | Geographic information systems City planning--Sri Lanka--Colombo |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. HS-94-18 |
| Abstract | The objective of this study is to analyse the changes in Colombo city, capital of Sri Lanka and to identify the 'Potential Surfaces. As proposed recently, a large number of variables have been taken in to account in determining the spatial pattern of social and economic activities and GIS technique is used to overlay maps to recognize the 'Potential Surfaces'. First, the population distribution pattern of the city and the filtering process was analysed. The population distribution pattern has changed over time and one of the interesting finding is the pattern of filtering process occurred in the city. As a result of the filteling process, the residential as well as economic activities have changed in space. Some of the high class residential areas have turned out to be low income residential areas and commercial areas. Second, the dynamics of the ethnic segregation was examined. There is one majority ethnic group, Sinhalese, and several other minority ethnic groups in the city. Certain wards in the city had high concentration of ce1tain ethnic groups indicating segregation. As the city grew, spatial dimension of ethnic concentration has changed. The majority ethnic group has moved out from their original residential areas to the outskirts while the concentration of certain minority ethnic groups increased in those areas. The wards with a larger concentration of Tamils and Moors increased because of in-migration of Tamils to the city from north of the country and high growth rate of Moors. The Malay community has remained more or less in the same area. The number of Burghers as well as the areas which had high concentration of them are shrinking. However, the method used for analysing the ethnic segregation failed to show this clearly. Third, the occupation concentration pattern of the city was examined. This analysis showed that there is a high concentration of workers in the northern pa1t of the city and high concentration of professional groups in the south and south-eastern pa1t of the city. Finally, a multivariate method, principle component factor analysis, was used to identify few factors which show common characteristics. The factor analysis grouped these 55 variables in to five factors. These factors were labelled as socio-economic factor, intensity of commercial land-use factor, population and population growth factor, ethnic segregation factor and production sector factor. These five factors were then used to separate the wards into different categories. Next step was to prepare maps on the basis of the values given by factor analysis to wards. Two factors were eliminated because they were not proved to be relevant for identifying potential smfaces. The maps prepared for the other three factors were overlayed to identify the potential smfaces. The findings show that the northern part of the city has the potential as the industrial area, central part as the commercial area, and the south and eastern parts as residential areas. The existing zones in the city are not compatible with this trend of development. Therefore, it is recommended to do away with the existing zones in the city. |
| Year | 1994 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. HS-94-18 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Civil and Infrastucture Engineering (DCIE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Human Settlement (HS) |
| Chairperson(s) | Wickramanayake, B.W.E. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Thapa, Gopal B. ;Kaew Nualchawee |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Government of Japan ; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1994 |