Delineation and classification of rural-urban fringe using analytical hierarchy process: a case study on a class-I city of West Bengal, India

Rural-urban fringe (RUF) is transitional zone between urban and rural which is dynamic and fluctuates with time and has high potentialities for future urban growth. So, the scientific delineation of RUF is very important for taking better policy, zoning and planning purpose. In this study an attempted has been made to delineate the RUF of Krishnanagar class-I (having population 1 lakh and above) city using Cronbach's alpha and multicriteria decision making (MCDM) through analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The results reveal that sharing and growth rate of built-up are high in urban fringe and relatively low in rural fringe and urban shadow than other land use. Urban index score has also been asserted that though Krishnanagar city is a non metro town but has a significant influencing power on the surrounding villages which has explicated in the classification of RUF.