IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v12y2023i4p920-d1128026.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dynamics of Mountain Urbanisation: Evidence from the Trans-Himalayan Town of Kargil, Ladakh, India

Author

Listed:
  • Altaf Hussain

    (Department of Geography, South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg University, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany)

  • Susanne Schmidt

    (Department of Geography, South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg University, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany)

  • Marcus Nüsser

    (Department of Geography, South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg University, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
    Heidelberg Center for the Environment (HCE), Heidelberg University, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany)

Abstract

Small and medium-sized towns in the high mountain regions of South Asia are characterised by rapid and mostly unplanned urbanisation processes, regularly resulting in an increased risk of urban agglomerations being exposed to natural hazards. After the administrative capital of Leh, Kargil town is the second-largest urban centre in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. This article discusses the development and dynamics of the Trans-Himalayan town in terms of its historical development, expansion and population; land use and land cover (LULC) change; and the specific role of tourism. Based on a multi-temporal approach using high-resolution satellite images, statistical data and field surveys, the urban landscape dynamics of Kargil town are analysed. The total population of this town increased almost tenfold from 1681 in 1961 to 16,338 in 2011, which resulted in an increase in the urban population from 3.7% to 11.6%, while the population of the entire Kargil district only tripled from 45,064 to 140,802 over the same period. Migration from rural villages to Kargil town has been a major cause for the construction and growth of new residential colonies and settlements. The built-up area increased more than ninefold from 0.25 km 2 (1.3%) to 2.30 km 2 (11.7%) between 1965 and 2020. During the same period, irrigated land and hygrophilous vegetation increased considerably from 4.51 km 2 (23.0%) to 8.56 km 2 (43.6%) due to the construction of new water channels. Similarly, the barren area decreased significantly from 14.88 km 2 (75.8%) to 8.78 km 2 (44.7%) between 1965 and 2020. Moreover, the massive increase in tourist arrivals has led to the construction of more hotels, guesthouses and travel agencies. These key factors play a significant role in the emergence, growth and development of this high-mountain town.

Suggested Citation

  • Altaf Hussain & Susanne Schmidt & Marcus Nüsser, 2023. "Dynamics of Mountain Urbanisation: Evidence from the Trans-Himalayan Town of Kargil, Ladakh, India," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-16, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:4:p:920-:d:1128026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/4/920/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/4/920/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhenhua Chao & Zhanhuan Shang & Chengdong Fei & Ziyi Zhuang & Mengting Zhou, 2023. "Spatiotemporal Analysis of Urban Expansion in the Mountainous Hindu Kush Himalayas Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Daniele Ehrlich & Michele Melchiorri & Claudia Capitani, 2021. "Population Trends and Urbanisation in Mountain Ranges of the World," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Jessica Field, 2020. "Caught between Paper Plans and Kashmir Politics: Disaster Governance in Ladakh, India," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 355-365.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin Li & Kaixu Zhao & Xinyu Wang & Sidong Zhao & Xingguang Liu & Weiwei Li, 2022. "Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Driving Mechanism of Urbanization in Small Cities: Case Study from Guangxi," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-34, March.
    2. Janjira Sukwai & Nobuo Mishima & Nattasit Srinurak, 2022. "Balancing Cultural Heritage Conservation: Visual Integrity Assessment to Support Change Management in the Buffer Zone of Chiang Mai Historic City Using GIS and Computer-Generated 3D Modeling," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-27, April.
    3. Robert A. Marchant & Aida Cuni-Sanchez, 2022. "Special Issue Editorial: Mountains under Pressure," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-5, August.
    4. Dorothea Hilhorst & Kees Boersma & Emmanuel Raju, 2020. "Research on Politics of Disaster Risk Governance: Where Are We Headed?," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(4), pages 214-219.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:4:p:920-:d:1128026. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.