Illuminated Spaces: Spatial Analysis of Night-time Lights in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area

Illuminated Spaces: Spatial Analysis of Night-time Lights in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Illuminated Spaces: Spatial Analysis of Night-time Lights in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area Department of Geography, Women’s Christian College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8104361/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Urban-scapes are illuminated by outdoor artificial lights. This work, in the scope of Nocturnal Geography, employs Night Time Light (NTL) as a parameter associating with urbanization. Focusing on the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA), it explores how city categories and population influence NTL distribution. The study has been conducted on 142 diverse urban sites across six districts—Kolkata, Haora, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and Nadia. The sites represent statutory towns (Municipal Corporation, Municipality with outgrowths, Municipality, Cantonment Board) as well as Census Towns. Cartographic and statistical tools were applied to correlate NTL with built-up space and population. Built-up areas were mapped using Global Human Settlement Layer (100 m), population from CIESIN GPWv4.11 (100 m), while NTL intensity (nanoWatts/sq.cm/sr.) was obtained from VIIRS Day/Night Band (463.83 m). The study spans 2013–2025 and uses Theil Index alongside mapping to analyze spatial dynamics. Findings indicate a moderately unequal distribution of NTL across KMA. Primacy of Kolkata emerges with concentrated high NTL intensity, contrasted by multiple smaller census towns exhibiting low intensity. Correlations with population, built-up space, distance from city core, and National Highways substantiate these disparities. NTL has more than urban infrastructure. Thus, equitable provision of adequate lighting emerges as a vital component for sustainable urban governance, urban resilience, and ensuring better quality of life in metropolitan regions. Geographic Information Systems Physical Geography Nocturnal geography NTL theil index VIR suite Sustainable Urban Governance Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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Area\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Department of Geography, Triveni Devi Bhalotia College, West Bengal, India.","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":true,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Nocturnal geography, NTL, theil index, VIR suite, Sustainable Urban Governance","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8104361/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8104361/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eUrban-scapes are illuminated by outdoor artificial lights. This work, in the scope of Nocturnal Geography, employs Night Time Light (NTL) as a parameter associating with urbanization. Focusing on the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA), it explores how city categories and population influence NTL distribution. The study has been conducted on 142 diverse urban sites across six districts—Kolkata, Haora, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, and Nadia. The sites represent statutory towns (Municipal Corporation, Municipality with outgrowths, Municipality, Cantonment Board) as well as Census Towns. Cartographic and statistical tools were applied to correlate NTL with built-up space and population. Built-up areas were mapped using Global Human Settlement Layer (100 m), population from CIESIN GPWv4.11 (100 m), while NTL intensity (nanoWatts/sq.cm/sr.) was obtained from VIIRS Day/Night Band (463.83 m). The study spans 2013–2025 and uses Theil Index alongside mapping to analyze spatial dynamics. Findings indicate a moderately unequal distribution of NTL across KMA. Primacy of Kolkata emerges with concentrated high NTL intensity, contrasted by multiple smaller census towns exhibiting low intensity. Correlations with population, built-up space, distance from city core, and National Highways substantiate these disparities. NTL has more than urban infrastructure. Thus, equitable provision of adequate lighting emerges as a vital component for sustainable urban governance, urban resilience, and ensuring better quality of life in metropolitan regions.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Illuminated Spaces: Spatial Analysis of Night-time Lights in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-11-14 08:00:14","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8104361/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"21359e03-0691-488d-832f-04573fb9c468","owner":[],"postedDate":"November 14th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":57925628,"name":"Geographic Information Systems"},{"id":57925629,"name":"Physical Geography"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-11-14T08:00:14+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-11-14 08:00:14","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8104361","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8104361","identity":"rs-8104361","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}