A study on factors related to urban growth of a municipal corporation and emerging challenges: A case of Siliguri Municipal Corporation, West Bengal, India

Abstract

Urbanization refers to the process of becoming urban or in other words urbanization is a cyclical
process through which the nation passes as they evolve from agrarian to industrial societies. It is a
spatial concomitant phenomenon involving population concentration, structural transformation and
socio-psychological change affecting both people and place. Siliguri, the gate way to North East India is
not only one of vital importance for the State of West Bengal but Eastern India also. Especially, in
developing countries in a particular setting, chronological development of Siliguri Municipal
Corporation and chaotic urbanization and industrialization created hardship particularly for local
residents. Although there were also many positive effects of urbanization including improving housing
condition, better urban amenities and services as well as higher living standards, these benefits were
often ignored in respect of urban environmental issues. The main scopes of the study were to elaborate
urban growth of Siliguri and its urbanization processes operated since past decades. The major
findings were to explore the subsequent growth and development of Siliguri Municipal Corporation
since past decades of early 20th century. In addition, various functions which the town had performed
were intensively studied in relation to urban population for the determination of problems created by
man to meet certain requirement.