A city is a large human settlement. People are the main driving force in a city. The dynamism of a city is dependent on people and their behaviour. A preliminary understanding of the composition and diverse capabilities of the populations in a city should be the key to a successful urban study.
This section provides a description of the demographic status and trends in the city, primarily based on 2012 census data, presenting an overall view of the population. Trends and patterns of urban population are discussed including aspects of demography such as age, sex, ethnicity, education levels; and overall observations with regard to migration patterns, suburban population and gender.
Understanding the demographic and composition patterns of the population within the existing physical boundary will help in planning a livable city.
Source - Source: Department of Census and Statistics
Within the Dambulla Municipal Council limits, 50.42% of the total population is male and 49.57% are female. The proportion of the total population divided by age is 25.01% for children under 15, 25.09% for those aged 15 to 29, 40.59% for those aged 30-59, and 09.29% for the elderly population over 60 years.
Source - Source: Department of Census and Statistics
The three main ethnicities are very much the same in English language writing and speaking. It is clear that the ability to speak Sinhala is low among Tamil and Moore people, although Sinhala writing is low. Trilingual ability is better represented among the minorities who are otherwise mentioned compared to major groups.
Source - Source: Department of Census and Statistics
The majority of men have moved into the city due to employment opportunities. Marriage is a major factor in the migration of women to the city. In addition, a significant number of women have migrated to the city for work and with a family member.
Source - Resource Profile Dambulla Municipal Council
The majority of people employed are Laborers.
Source - Source: Department of Census and Statistics
The total male resident population in the Dambulla Municipal Council area is 12008, the total female resident population is 11806 out of which the total male migrant population is 3897 and the total female migrant population is 4199.According to that the amount of female inmigrants are comparatively higher than the male inmigrants.
Source - Source: Department of Census and Statistics
In the Dambulla Municipal Council area, the percentage of males is 50.4% and females 49.6%.
Education has always been a significant element in societal development. The development of education facilities contributes substantially to the development in an urban area.
As a developing country it is crucial to address poverty in order to attain the development goals. Education plays a major role in poverty reduction. Presently, several global cities have been implementing the concept of smart city to improve the quality of life of the society, including in the field of education.
Good educational institutions and coverage enables a population to have decent livelihoods be they self employed or part of the workforce. Understanding how a city provides primary, secondary and tertiary eductional as well as skill development through vocational centres could provide some pointers to how well a city is doing or where it needs to develop further.
Source - Source: Department of Census and Statistics
Although the enrollment of students in the GCE (O / L) and GCE (A / L) levels is high, the proportion of women who attend a degree is lower than that of men.
Source - Source: Department of Census and Statistics
The data shows that about 66.5 percent of people between the ages of 3 and 24 receive schooling. A record 33.49 percent of the uneducated have been reported.
Connectivity is central to key GoSL strategic aims: to promote economic growth, and to rebalance growth across the country’s 9 provinces. Higher the connectivity to any city, better is the urban growth in that city.
Detailed information on key transport aspects including bus and rail transport, freight route maps, airports and logistic systems are aspects that should be considered for a city to be properly interconnected within the bigger system. One of the SDG targets 11.2 is about access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems, road safety, public transport, and if we are to move towards being sustainble, these need to be considered in tranpsort planning. Further, the needs of people in vulnerable situations, women and children, persons with disabilities and older persons should also be considered.
ICT coverage is another way of being connected and recent technological advances enable a city to be better connected through its access to ICTs as well.
Source - Resource Profile 2012 Dambulla Municipal Council
Highways and transport links play a major role in shaping a city's growth. Transport links and related facilities available to any city accelerate the city's automatic growth. in dambulla area there are 70.3km A grade roads 14.79 km of B grade roads
Cities are the primary drivers of economic development, therefore, Sri Lanka’s cities have a decisive role to play in driving the economy forward by catalysing high value-added economic activities, as the country strives to achieve upper middle-income country status.
According the latest Word Cities report, 80 per cent of global GDP is created by cities, despite their accounting for less than 60 per cent of the world’s population (UN-Habitat, 2016).
The Government of Sri Lanka recognizes the role of urban economy in shaping the future of the country. In this respect, Vision 2025 and Public Investment Programme (PIP) 2017-2020 lays out the urban policy priority actions: to promote western region as economic hub of the southern part of the Indian subcontinent, and to promote strategic city development to secondary urban spaces as provincial economic hubs.
It is also interesting to see how competitive a city is, taking into account current and potential roles of governments, businesses and the private sector in the economic development of the city and urban settlements, best use of human capital, and labour force participation, and existing skills and the job market etc. within demarcated territory.
Source - Resource Profile 2012 Dambulla Municipal Council
46% families belongs between 5000-10000 and 10000-25000 income gaps. In the income category of Less than 3000, there are 3028 families who are getting an average income below Rs.1500. in income level of over 50000, there are 68 families who earn more than Rs.75000
Source - Resource Profile 2012 Dambulla Municipal Council
Total paddy fields (ha) of the division: - 6263
An important function of Sri Lanka’s cities is to provide housing for the diversity of residents that support urban life. Sri Lankan early urban settlement legacy – histories, patterns, trends including land use and housing and the development challenges that come along with it have shaped the nature of our cities.
The share of housing as a proportion of built-up area across the different cities was considered, and numerous factors affect the figure. e.g. Anuradhapura, has restrictions on residential developments because of its cultural, historical and touristic importance, other MCs include significant social and economic land use, operating as a hub to surrounding suburbs and rural areas with large residential populations.
Housing policy challenges that are encountered by the city administrators relate to tenure systems, the supply of affordable, high quality housing, and difficulties accessing housing finance.
Source - Resource Profile 2012 Dambulla Municipal Council
Out of 19440 households, 15402 families have a permanent house and 3429 families who have a semi permanent house have a total of 18831 families.
Dambulla Municipal area:
Dambulla Municipal Council covers an area of 45523.42 hectares. (Data Source _ Survey Department)
Proper management of land, a scarce resource, can bring about many benefits. This is of great importance especially in urban areas.
It is timely to figure out how land is allocated and being used for what purpose in our cities today. In order to create well planned cities with a futuristic vision, having a better understanding of current land use is imperative.
Land use maps are categorized into 36 sub-categories under two types – built-up and non built-up. The extent of land in each of these sub categories are indicated below.
In all of the cities it can be identified that the higher densities are concentrated in the city centres and the expansion is taken place along the roads. The expansion pattern is shaped by the geography of the surrounding area.
The selection of the area for the urban expansion analysis was followed by several preliminary studies. Initially, the urban index values which was identified using the remote sensing information were studied in the respective municipal areas including a fringe area.
Before selecting interested area for the expansion analysis it should consider following facts
- Municipal boundary
- At least 2-3 km buffer around Municipal boundary
- Rough boundary where the physical urban character disappearing
In the remote sensing discipline, the values higher than 0 represent the built-up areas.The boundary for the fringe area was identified by getting the extent of urban expansion as well as a fine boundary where the high-density expansion become insignificant. The identified boundaries were projected on to the latest satellite images to assure the identified urban index values are in line with the existing building densities.
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