Swelter in the City: Population Distribution, Land Use Change and the Urban Heat Island Effect in Shillong, India

Shillong is a hill station in the eastern Himalayas, whose population has grown rapidly in recent years. This Chapter considers the land-use/landcover change (LULC) in Shillong using topographic map data of 1939 and Landsat satellite imageries of 2008 and 2013. Along with this population densities using gridded Landscan population datasets for 2008 and 2013 and thermal Landsat data were used to examine the links between population concentration, the urban heat island (UHI) effect and LULC. The results indicate a rapid loss of forest cover and an increase in the built up area and spiralling population densities in the latter. The UHI effect is also pronounced in areas with higher population densities and impervious surfaces. Changes in LULC and UHI will exacerbate the cities problems in the coming years as climate change brings about temperature increases.