Toward a better appraisal of urbanization in India

Until now, studies of urbanization in India have been based only on official urban figures as provided by Census surveys. This approach has inevitably introduced several avoidable biases into the picture, distortions which are further compounded by numerous regional inter-Census adjustments. A much...

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Autores principales:	Eric Denis, Kamala Marius-Gnanou
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	DE EN FR IT PT
Publicado:	Unité Mixte de Recherche 8504 Géographie-cités 2010
Materias:	urbanization/urbanisation metropolization/metropolisation settlement urban-rural divide Geography (General) G1-922
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a5af5fc6f5ca4e50b3c1cdf86cdb4f51
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a5af5fc6f5ca4e50b3c1cdf86cdb4f512021-12-02T11:14:18ZToward a better appraisal of urbanization in India1278-336610.4000/cybergeo.24798https://doaj.org/article/a5af5fc6f5ca4e50b3c1cdf86cdb4f512010-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://journals.openedition.org/cybergeo/24798https://doaj.org/toc/1278-3366Until now, studies of urbanization in India have been based only on official urban figures as provided by Census surveys. This approach has inevitably introduced several avoidable biases into the picture, distortions which are further compounded by numerous regional inter-Census adjustments. A much sounder option is now available in the Geopolis approach [www.e-geopolis.eu], which follows the United Nations system of classifying as urban all physical agglomerates with at least 10,000 inhabitants.From this standpoint, the Indian scenario exhibits all signs of a much-diffused process of urbanization rather than a major demographic polarization led by mega-cities. While 3,279 units were officially categorized as urban, the Geopolis criterion has identified 6,467 units with at least 10,000 inhabitants. Moreover, Geopolis estimates the urban population at 37% for 2001, which is 10% more than the official Census estimate. In absolute terms, this difference accounts for 100 million inhabitants. Brought to light by both physical identification and gradation of the census units of all localities as well as a study of the morphological profiles of individual agglomerates, a major finding reveals a greater spread of the country’s metro and secondary cities than previously believed. Statistical and political considerations have obscured the emergence of small agglomerations of between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants. This omission can only be seen as a gap in the national policy on planning and urban development. In other words, the country seems to be firmly headed toward an extended process of metropolitanization alongside diffused combinations of localized socio-economic opportunities, clusters, cottage industries, and market towns partially interlinked by developmental corridors. Far from a dual model of modern versus traditional, urban versus rural, metro city versus small town, the Indian subcontinent features many sub-regional settings which converge, overlap, and diverge. This study of the distribution of current and emerging agglomerations challenges the pertinence of the urban/rural divide.Eric DenisKamala Marius-GnanouUnité Mixte de Recherche 8504 Géographie-citésarticleurbanization/urbanisationmetropolization/metropolisationsettlementurban-rural divideGeography (General)G1-922DEENFRITPTCybergeo (2010)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	DE EN FR IT PT
topic	urbanization/urbanisation metropolization/metropolisation settlement urban-rural divide Geography (General) G1-922
spellingShingle	urbanization/urbanisation metropolization/metropolisation settlement urban-rural divide Geography (General) G1-922 Eric Denis Kamala Marius-Gnanou Toward a better appraisal of urbanization in India
description	Until now, studies of urbanization in India have been based only on official urban figures as provided by Census surveys. This approach has inevitably introduced several avoidable biases into the picture, distortions which are further compounded by numerous regional inter-Census adjustments. A much sounder option is now available in the Geopolis approach [www.e-geopolis.eu], which follows the United Nations system of classifying as urban all physical agglomerates with at least 10,000 inhabitants.From this standpoint, the Indian scenario exhibits all signs of a much-diffused process of urbanization rather than a major demographic polarization led by mega-cities. While 3,279 units were officially categorized as urban, the Geopolis criterion has identified 6,467 units with at least 10,000 inhabitants. Moreover, Geopolis estimates the urban population at 37% for 2001, which is 10% more than the official Census estimate. In absolute terms, this difference accounts for 100 million inhabitants. Brought to light by both physical identification and gradation of the census units of all localities as well as a study of the morphological profiles of individual agglomerates, a major finding reveals a greater spread of the country’s metro and secondary cities than previously believed. Statistical and political considerations have obscured the emergence of small agglomerations of between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants. This omission can only be seen as a gap in the national policy on planning and urban development. In other words, the country seems to be firmly headed toward an extended process of metropolitanization alongside diffused combinations of localized socio-economic opportunities, clusters, cottage industries, and market towns partially interlinked by developmental corridors. Far from a dual model of modern versus traditional, urban versus rural, metro city versus small town, the Indian subcontinent features many sub-regional settings which converge, overlap, and diverge. This study of the distribution of current and emerging agglomerations challenges the pertinence of the urban/rural divide.
format	article
author	Eric Denis Kamala Marius-Gnanou
author_facet	Eric Denis Kamala Marius-Gnanou
author_sort	Eric Denis
title	Toward a better appraisal of urbanization in India
title_short	Toward a better appraisal of urbanization in India
title_full	Toward a better appraisal of urbanization in India
title_fullStr	Toward a better appraisal of urbanization in India
title_full_unstemmed	Toward a better appraisal of urbanization in India
title_sort	toward a better appraisal of urbanization in india
publisher	Unité Mixte de Recherche 8504 Géographie-cités
publishDate	2010
url	https://doaj.org/article/a5af5fc6f5ca4e50b3c1cdf86cdb4f51
work_keys_str_mv	AT ericdenis towardabetterappraisalofurbanizationinindia AT kamalamariusgnanou towardabetterappraisalofurbanizationinindia
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Toward a better appraisal of urbanization in India

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