Typological classification of rural-urban continuum regions for an enhanced spatial planning - A case of Kerala, India

The Rural-Urban Continuum (RUC) landscapes are geographical locations that are difficult to distinguish as either urban or rural areas. Kerala State in India is one such instance of an RUC settlement that employs the dichotomous classification (rural and urban) as the basis of the spatial planning process. The resultant spatial planning system is highly fragmented, which emphasizes the need for a typological classification of RUC settlements for integrated spatial planning. Hence, Ernakulam (with 97 local bodies), the most urbanized district of Kerala State that cuts across all the topographic features, is selected as a case representation study area. The study attempts to classify settlements based on the landscape metrics derived using FRAGSTATS software from the Sentinel 2 remote sensing data. The study employs Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for dimension reduction, and the factor scores derived are used as inputs for the subsequent cluster analysis using Ward’s algorithm. The classification identifies five distinct clusters: aggregate, semi-aggregate, random, semi-dispersed, and dispersed. The methodology helps classify settlements for better spatial planning in Kerala. The increasing resolution of remote sensing imagery makes applying the method to various locations and land covers possible.