Urban Sprawl of Noida City, Uttar Pradesh

The present paper examines the evolution of Noida into a city in an area which comprised of 81 villages before 1991. A large number of studies have pointed out that in India, population of large urban settlements are increasing rapidly whereas small and medium towns are either stagnating or are on decline. In this scenario, emergence of a new urban settlement where population is doubling every decade raises the question that how and why rapid urbanization in this town/city has taken place. It has been found that NOIDA Authority created in 1976 through implementation of successive Master Plans was successful in creating employment opportunities and provide affordable housing. Its proximity to mega city Delhi and location in CNCR zone of NCR also played an important role in the urbanization. Its location and development of Noida as an integrated industrial township has resulted into emergence of Noida as a self-sustaining city. The study reaffirms that possibility of success of a new urban settlement is better in self-sustaining cities.