Classification of Towns

Apart from their role as central or nodal places, many towns and cities perform specialised services. Some towns and cities specialise in certain functions and they are known for some specific activities, products or services. However, each town performs a number of functions. On the basis of dominant or specialised functions, Indian cities and towns can be broadly classified as follows:

Administrative towns and cities:

Towns supporting administrative headquarters of higher order are administrative towns, such as Chandigarh, New Delhi, Bhopal, Shillong, Guwahati, Imphal, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Jaipur Chennai, etc.

Industrial towns: 

Industries constitute prime motive force of these cities such as Mumbai, Salem, Coimbatore, Modinagar, Jamshedpur, Hugli, Bhilai, etc.

Transport Cities: 

They may be ports primarily engaged in export and import activities such as Kandla, Kochchi, Kozhikode, Vishakhapatnam, etc. or hubs of inland transport such as Agra, Dhulia, Mughal Sarai, Itarsi, Katni, etc.

Commercial towns: 

Towns and cities specialising in trade and commerce are kept in this class. Kolkata, Saharanpur, Satna, etc. are some examples.

Mining towns: 

These towns have developed in mineral rich areas such as Raniganj, Jharia, Digboi, Ankaleshwar, Singrauli, etc.

Garrisson Cantonment towns: 

These towns emerged as garrisson towns such as Ambala, Jalandhar, Mhow, Babina, Udhampur, etc.

Educational towns:

Starting as centres of education, some of the towns have grown into major campus towns such as Roorki, Varanasi, Aligarh, Pilani, Allahabad etc.

Religious and cultural towns:

Varanasi, Mathura, Amritsar, Madurai, Puri, Ajmer, Pushkar, Tirupati, Kurukshetra, Haridwar, Ujjain came to prominence due to their religious/cultural significance.

Tourist towns: 

Nainital, Mussoorie, Shimla, Pachmarhi, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Udagamandalam (Ooty), Mount Abu are some of the tourist destinations.

The cities are not static in their function. The functions change due to their dynamic nature. Even specialised cities, as they grow into metropolises become multifunctional wherein industry, business, administration, transport, etc. become important. The functions get so intertwined that the city can not be categorised in a particular functional class.

Counter-Urbanization

It is a demographic and social process whereby people move from urban areas to rural areas. It first took place as a reaction to inner-city deprivation and overcrowding. Counter urbanization occurs when some large cities reach a point where they stop growing further or actually begin to decrease in size as their population start moving into suburban areas or smaller cities thereby leapfrogging the rural-urban fringe. There are instances which show that the phenomenon of counter urbanization is occurring in India.

Sub-Urbanization

It is closely related to over-urbanization of a city. Over a period of time, people from the OverUrbanized area start moving towards the fringe area around the cities. Such areas around the cities gradually start developing asan urban area. This phenomenon is known as Sub Urbanisation.

There are several factors which leads to the process of Sub-urbanisation such as : 

1. High cost of living in over urbanized area, 

2. Development of transport facility around the horizons of over urbanized area, 

3. New Work culture that does not necessitate the physical presence on every day. 

4. inclusion of surrounding areas of towns within its municipal limits.

Delhi is a typical example; wherein the all the above mentioned factors have led to the development of sub urbanized area. E.g. Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Meerut etc.

Over-Urbanization

Over-urbanization is a phenomenon wherein the level of urbanization surpasses the level of industrialization. In an over urbanized area, population growth outstrips its job market and the capacity of its infrastructure. This phenomenon can also be referred as Urbanisation without Industrialisation. E.g. Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi are some of the over urbanized cities.

Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl is described as leapfrog development. The urban sprawl area is the territory which is continuously losing its rural nature, however cannot be termed as urban yet. Such areas undergo several uncertainties, unorganized growth happens and land is used for various uses other than agriculture. A huge hinterland is created in-between urban and rural settlements, which is termed as Urban Sprawl.

Peri-Urban

Peri-urban areas are a stage of an area's development where it lies between rural and urban, having both rural and urban characteristics. A transitional zone which is viewed as being larger than the edge or boundary separating an urban settlement from a non-urban settlement.

Rural-Urban Fringe

The Rural Urban Fringe is a transition zone between the city and the country where rural and urban land use coexist. The dynamic fringe can be detected by observing changes in the city and vice-versa. The agricultural hinterland, where land use is changing and is characterized in relation to the metropolis.

Suburbs

The word “suburb” is not new; it originates from the Latin suburbium, which means “under the city”. Suburbs are thus described as a location in the Oxford English Dictionary's initial definition: “The country lying immediately outside the town or city; more precisely, those residential parts belonging to a town or city that lay directly outside and next to its walls and boundaries”.

Rurban

Rurban centres are small town or big villages that have both rural and urban activities. These Rurban centres have developed into popular migrant enclaves for adjacent rural villages as a result of urbanization. Rurban centres which are located halfway between rural and urban population.

Urban in India

Urban settlements in India consist of:  

Statutory Towns: All places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee as declared by the state law. 

Census Towns: Places which meet the following criteria: 

✓ a minimum population of 5,000; 

✓ at least 75 per cent of male main working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; 

✓a population density of at least 400 persons per square kilometre.

Cities: 

Urban areas: with a population of at least one 100,000 (0.1 million). The others are termed as ‘Towns’.

Metropolitan Cities: Cities with a population of at least 10 100,000 (1 million).

Urban Agglomerations (UAs): Continuous urban spreads constituting a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths (OGs) or two or more physical contiguous towns together and any adjoining urban outgrowths of such towns. A UA must consist of at least one statutory town, and its total population of all constituents put together should not be less than 20,000 as enumerated in the Census of 2001.

Size Class Classification (population):

Class I: 100,000 and more

Class II: 50,000 to 99,999

Class III: 20,000 to 49,999

Class IV: 10,000 to 19,999

Class V: 5,000 to 9,999

Class VI: Less than 5,000

Rural - Urban Areas

Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) suggested changing definition of rural-urban areas in India. EAC-PM member in a working paper titled ‘What is Urban/Rural India’ suggested that government needs a more dynamic approach to define rural-urban areas.

Current Definition of Rural and Urban settlements:

As of 2017, any settlement that is not considered 'urban' is automatically considered 'rural'.

There are 2 types of urban settlements

✓ Administratively urban settlements are those that are governed by an Urban Local Body (ULB).

✓ Census Urban Settlements are those that have a population greater than 5000, 75% of male population working in non-agriculture, and a density of 400 people per sq. Km.

Problems with current labelling of settlement:

✓ Current classification often inadequate in capturing speed and scale of urbanization in India.

✓ Panchayats in de facto urban areas are ill equipped in terms of human resources.

✓ Slow transition from rural administrative panchayats to ULBs results in incorrect standards of services being applied; unmet requirements of local public goods, etc.

Solutions provided by EAC-PM:

✓Establish “trigger mechanisms” which automate transition from rural to urban settlement after prescribed threshold is reached.

✓ Ministries should utilise census and other settlement wide indicators to determine rural definition that best suits their particular programme’s mandate.

Definition of Urban Area

In the Census of India 2011, the definition of urban area adopted is as follows:

a) All statutory places with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, etc.;

b) A place satisfying the following criteria:

> Population is more than 5000.

> 75% of the male population engaged in non-agricultural occupations.

> A density of population of at least 400 per sq. km.

    Keeping the above criterion of 'urban area' in mind, urbanisation, in general, can be defined as the sM from a rural society to an urban society. It involves an increase in the number of people in urban areas during a particular year or period. It is the outcome of social, economic and political developments that lead to urban concentration and growth of large cities, changes in land use and transformation from rural to metropolitan pattern of organisation and governance.

    It has been viewed as an important factor in the areas of economic transformation, orchestrating the breakdown of the feudal order and talung societies to higher levels of social formation. Urbanisation is intrinsically connected and irrevocably enlaced with the development process, as an essential strand in the contemporary economic system.

    Urbanisation implies a cultural, social and psychological pmss whereby people acquire the material and non-material culture, including behavioural patterns, forms of organization, and ideas that originated in or are distinctive of the city. Although the flow of cultural influences takes place in both the directions towards and away from the city -there is substantial agreement that the cultural influences exerted by the city on non-urban people are probably more pervasive than the reverse.

Sports city

Sports  City  defines  a  large  developed  area  with  all  kind  of  sports  infrastructure  facility  to  support  organising  and  hosting  different  sports  activities  in  a  city.  Basically  it is a concept of “City within City” which provides a regular series  of sports  venues, sports academies,  providing  a platform for youth development, recreational  sports  facilities,  residential  and  commercial  developments,  together  with  all  the  related  amenities.  The  purpose‐built  city  is  supported  by  service  facilities  like  schools,  medical  facilities  for  sportsmen  and  residents,  hotels,  community  centres  and entertainment venue.  And eventually  all the events  of sports city translate their  activity  into  economic generation  for an economically sustainable sport city.

Medi‐City

The concept of modern medical cities or special health care facilities as been in place  for  some  time,  but  has gained  renewed interest,  particularly in  rapidly  developing  economies. The concept of a medi city or  health  city  defines a cluster of hospitals, a  holistic healthcare  centre; a large hospital sprawled across acres of land. Medi‐city  can  be  a  new  township  or  a  zone  of  a  city,  where  medical  facilities  are  provided  releasing pressure from  the main  city or to promote medical tourism attracting new  sources of  economic  growth.   

Medi‐cities  have  been  designed  to  be  comprehensive  in  scope  and  incorporate  advanced  technologies and  medical practices. The scale and scope of medical cities  usually  demands  an  advanced level  of  care,  both in  technology  and  approaches  to  create an attractive  destination  for care  to ensure the high level of patient volumes  required  to support such a large setup. 

Resilient City

Resilient cities are cities that have the ability to absorb, recover and prepare for future shocks (economic, environmental, social & institutional). Resilient cities promote sustainable development, well-being and inclusive growth. A Resilient City is one that has developed capacities to absorb future shocks and stresses

A resilience building process entails strengthening of:

> City systems (Infrastructure, services, sectors) - drainage, water supply, transport, health facilities etc.

> City planning (development norms, land-use planning)

> A resilient city assesses, plans and acts to prepare for and respond to all hazards – sudden and slow onset, expected and unexpected.

Eco Cities

Eco city  is an ideal habitat where nature & technology merge, human creativity & productivity reaches a maximum level, residents’ health & environmental quality are well protected & energy, materials, and information are efficiently used. 

Eco city concept has its roots in the ecological planning approach detailed by Ian Mc Harg, a landscape architect in 1969, in his book ‘Design with Nature’.

Richard Register, introduced the term Eco City in 1987 in his book, Eco City Berkeley: Building Cities for A Healthy Future.

The characteristics of eco cities are:

1. Health And Harmony:

In order to provide enough and consistent ecosystem services in an eco city the human support system is healthy and sustainable.

2. High efficiency and vigor:

The high consumption, high emission, high pollution and low productivity developmental modes are altered into more environmentally friendly modes in an eco city.

3. Low Carbon Orientation:

Looking at the climate change the cities are facing this is the need of the hour. Emphasis should be laid on high productivity with minimized use of natural resources.

4. Sustaining Prosperity:

Current development should not put at risk the development of the next generation.

5. High Ecological Civilization:

In an eco city, the concept of ecological civilization is displayed in and permeates all fields, including industrial production, human day to day activities, education, community  construction and societal fashion. 

6. Holism:

Eco cities lay emphasis on the holistic development integrating social, economic and environmental factors.

7. Regionality:

Each city is different with respect to its geographical characteristics and thus each city has a different urban development scenario.

Greeen City

A green city is a city that promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy in all its activities, extensively promotes green solutions, applies land compactness with mixed land use and social mix practices in its planning systems, and anchors its local development in the principles of green growth and equity. It was proven that GDP has a positive influence on Green City performance, population size has a negative impact, and that the most influential factors are sanitation and air quality.

Smart City

Smart Cities focus on their most pressing needs and on the greatest opportunities to improve lives. They tap a range of approaches - digital and information technologies, urban planning best practices, public-private partnerships, and policy change - to make a difference. They always put people first.

In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of 'Smart' Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring cities. The Smart Cities Mission is meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalysing the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country.

Sustainable City

A sustainable city reduces environmental impacts through its activities and promotes sustainable consumption and production patterns in accordance with its own territorial, geographical, social, economic and cultural conditions. It is a city that is resilient to the impacts of climate change reducing the vulnerabilities of its population. The perfect sustainable city would be one that is self-sufficient in energy, manages waste to produce energy, has more sustainable transport, maintains green spaces and manages and uses its natural resources correctly. It would be a city that is built on the principles of ecology, education and equality.  Below we will analyze the characteristics of sustainable cities and how you can do your part to achieve a clean and ecological city.

Characteristics of sustainable cities:

1. Environmentally conscious inhabitants:

A sustainable city can only exist when its inhabitants are committed to changing their old habits for new ones that are less harmful to the environment. There would be no point in taking actions to promote recycling, investing in new energy and technologies if the people themselves do not intend to readjust their habits to contribute to and adopt these changes. Sustainable cities need citizens who are committed to the cause, who are environmentally aware and whose lifestyles can identify with environmentally conscious actions.

 2. Regenerating and preserving natural spaces:

 The renewal of public spaces is necessary. This implies the adaptation of urban space in general; a sustainable city provides green spaces that are larger, more comfortable and integrated into cities, never isolated. The planning of cities nowadays incorporates these spaces, providing a healthier air for citizens that can avoid exposure to high levels of pollution.

3. Mainly local city economy:

Sustainable cities also encourage models that encourage local purchasing and networks of productive, environmentally friendly people. By creating sustainable productive systems and new jobs to ensure that everyone in the city has access to resources and a fulfilling life, the economy becomes stronger. By supporting local trade we also reduce CO2 emissions generated by transport.  

4. Renewable energy techniques:

Technological advances have created the possibility of using new renewable energy sources. They have made it possible to supply our energy consumption with cleaner and less polluting energies than those we used previously. In the same way, electric vehicles are also a great contribution and a great alternative to the polluting traditional ways of transport. This is why we must encourage both large companies and individual citizens to use these alternative energies.