Spatial and Temporal Patterns of the Air-Pollution Concentration of the City of Colombo and Impacts of the Socio-Economic Factors

Abstract

The city of Colombo has been identified as a primate city by the urban Geographers based on the magnitude of the concentration of the population in the city, compare to the city system of the country. The city of Colombo (CMC) covers a total area of 37.3 sq Kilometers, which is about 5.7 percent of the land area of Colombo district. The population of Colombo has expended rapidly from 155(000) in 1901 to 642(000) in 2001 and indicated the most populated city in the island with 17,200 persons per sq. Kilometer in 2001. Colombo is the capital city and commercial center of the country. High population concentration, large number of daily commuters, city oriented traffic flows and traffic conjunction, large number of slum and shanty population are very significant characterstics for the air quality of the city. The average number of vehicles entered to the city in a weekday is about 5000. Colombo is a rapidly developing city in South Asia. As industrialization, power generation, urbanization and transportation are the major developmental areas of Colombo City. But unfortunately these developmental were taken place with lack of holistic environmental management approach.