CHENNAI: The ongoing revision of the Town and Country Planning Act and the Local Bodies Act should explicitly address peri-urban areas, which lie between rural and urban parts of the State, recommended the State Planning Commission.
After studying the growth of peri-urban areas, the Tamil Nadu State Land Use Research Board (TNSLURB) has identified five strategic pillars – legal recognition of peri-urban areas, institutional coordination, integrated spatial planning, climate-responsive development, and financing reforms – said its Member-Secretary Sudha S.
According to the report, 610 villages in Tamil Nadu were upgraded as towns over the past two decades, and 247 villages have qualified for urban status after meeting specific demographic and economic criteria based on the 2011 Census data.
Reports prepared by the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) and a high-level committee in 2020 and 2022, respectively, noted that Tamil Nadu is a highly industrialised State that contributes 10.4 per cent of the country's industrial GDP. Rapid industrialisation has been one of the major drivers of urbanisation in the State.
Recalling Census data, the report said 48 per cent of Tamil Nadu's population lives in urban areas. For mapping peri-urban areas, the study employed the Degree of Urbanisation and the Contiguously Built Urban Agglomeration (CBUA) methodology. Of the 316 CBUAs identified in Tamil Nadu, the study found that 10 were rapidly urbanising areas.
In most cases, between 40 and 65 per cent of the total increase in built-up area occurred in peri-urban belts. Particularly high proportions were observed in Hosur (75.5 per cent), Salem (63.7 per cent), Thanjavur (62.2 per cent), and Madurai (57.0 per cent).
In contrast, Chennai, the capital city, recorded the largest absolute increase in built-up area (139.9 sq. km) but peri-urban growth accounted for a smaller share of about 29.5 per cent. However, the report cautioned that the sheer scale of expansion continues to exert significant pressure on surrounding areas.