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.
