Abstract:“Thin shadows, hollow shadows, shadows deep black
The shadow of a tree is better than a tree, always have our back”
-SUKUMAR RAY ( Bengali writer and poet 1888-1923, Kolkata, India)
Objective: In the past bygone eras, because of urbanisation and spatial development of urban communities past their city limits, complex interaction between the city and its encompassing rustic regions have happened, ushering in new developments in its surrounding or shadow zone. The shadow zones created by people, trying to migrate to the cities /metropolises for livelihood, education or health systems, but for better affordability settling down in the immediate neighbourhood or surrounding areas. There are multiple number of definitions for these shadow zones, because of their diversified character as far as land and water use, occupational shift, socio-cultural pattern changes. Most peri-urban regions, explicitly those around enormous metropolitan urban centres like KOLKATA, are progressively adapting to the complex environment therein, which call for unique administration structures past rural urban binaries. The shadow created by the metropolis needs to have a defined/demarcated boundary by a clear-cut methodology.
Conclusion: The main focus of this research paper is to evolve with the idea of creating such methodology beyond the already existing ones. The methodology involves collection of data from primary and secondary sources for the case of Kolkata Metropolitan Region. It deals with socio-economic, and land use characters to reach the goal to find out the uneven, far located, fragmented, and linearly developed shadow zones of the city –the Peri urban. The comprehensive study also focuses in predicting the sustainable development of the shadow zones through recommendation.

| DOI: 10.17148/IARJSET.2021.88114