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Module 7
Urbanization and Development
Lecture 21: Urbanization in India Slide 1 INTRODUCTION
This module focuses on the growth of urbanization. It deals with the concept of urbanization, difference between urbanization and urbanism, level and trend of urbanization in India, causes of urbanization, relationship between urbanization and development, and future of urbanization in India
DEFINITION OF URBAN AREAS
There is no universal definition of urban areas. Different countries define urban localities in terms of different factors such as size and density of population, amenities considered to be commonly available in urban areas, major economic activities of population, etc. Also not all those countries which define urban areas in terms of the same factors use the same threshold values for distinguishing urban localities from rural localities. For example, among those countries which define urban areas in terms of minimum size of population, some countries define an area with a minimum population of 5,000 as urban while many countries define smaller places also as urban areas (say areas with a population of 2,000). This makes comparison between levels of urbanization between different countries as somewhat problematic. Box 7.1 presents the census definition of urban areas that was used in Census of India, 2001. The box also defines urban agglomerations and cities. The definition shows that size is one major factor in defining urban areas but this is not the only factor. Density of population, being a seat of local administration and composition of male labour force are others. Thus not all urban areas are large. Some urban areas have a population of less than 5,000. Badrinatinth, the famous pilgrimage place of Hindus has zero population at the time of census enumeration but it is defined as urban. The urban areas which have a population above 100,000 are called cities or Class I cities.
URBANIZATION AND URBANISM
Urbanization does not imply urbanism. Urbanization refers to growth of urban population, in relation to rural population, but urbanism refers to presence of a distinction culture in urban areas. The term urbanism was coined by Louis Wirth (2009) to refer to ways of life in cities. Wirth published a classic essay on this theme “Urbanism as a Way of Life”, in the American Journal of Sociology in 1938. In this essay he focused on city life, minority group behaviour and mass media. His research was concerned with how Jewish immigrants adjusted to life in urban America, as well as the distinct social processes of city life. He applied the concepts and theories of sociology to study of city life. For those who followed Wirth’s ideas, the way of life of urban areas has been a more important subject of study than urbanization. Looked at from this perspective, a country may have high degree of urbanization but in terms of culture its urban areas may not be very different from the rural areas. Alternatively, urbanism need to be defined varyingly in the context of different countries. Since the history and processes of growth of cities in the developing countries are markedly different from those of the developed countries it is natural that the urban areas in the two world regions acquire different characters, or different styles of urbanism. In general, however, in studies of population processes a distinction is made between urban and rural areas. All social and demographic characteristics of population vary according to urban-rural residence variable. Urban areas are normally marked by:
- Higher literacy, educational achievements and vocational education
- Higher standard of living, higher aspirations and more amenities and services
- Higher age of marriage
- Lower ideal family size, greater use of family planning methods and lower fertility
- Better health infrastructure leading to lower mortality and fertility rates
- Higher autonomy and empowerment of women
- Lower impact of religiosity and supernatural beliefs
- Greater impact of globalization, individualization and secularization
BOX 7.1: URBAN AND RURAL AREAS IN INDIAN CENSUS
In the Census of India 2001, 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 three criteria simultaneously:
i) a minimum population of 5,000; ii) at least 75 per cent of male working population engaged in non-agricultural pursuits; and iii) a density of population of at least 400 per sq. km. (1,000 per sq. mile).
For identification of places which would qualify to be classified as 'urban' all villages, which, as per the 1991 Census had a population of 4,000 and above, a population density of 400 persons per sq. km. and having at least 75 per cent of male working population engaged in non-agricultural activity were considered. To work out the proportion of male working population referred to above against b)(ii), the data relating to main workers were taken into account.
An Urban Agglomeration is a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining urban outgrowths (OGs) or two or more physically contiguous towns together and any adjoining urban outgrowths of such towns. Examples of OGs are railway colonies, university campuses, port areas, etc., that may come up near a city or statutory town outside its statutory limits but within the revenue limits of a village or villages contiguous to the town or city. Each such individual area by itself may not satisfy the minimum population limit to qualify it to be treated as an independent urban unit but may deserve to be clubbed with the town as a continuous urban spread.
For the purpose of delineation of Urban Agglomerations during Census of India 2001, following criteria are taken as pre-requisites: (a) The core town or at least one of the constituent towns of an urban agglomeration should necessarily be a statutory town; and (b) The total population of all the constituents (i.e. towns and outgrowths) of an Urban Agglomeration should not be less than 20,000 (as per the 1991 Census). With these two basic criteria having been met, the following are the possible different situations in which Urban Agglomerations would be constituted: (i) a city or town with one or more contiguous outgrowths; (ii) two or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths; and (iii) a city and one or more adjoining towns with their outgrowths all of which form a continuous spread.
City Towns with population of 1,00,000 and above are called cities.
Since level of urbanization can vary from zero to 100 only as the level of urbanization increases the potential to urbanize faster decreases. According to one United Nations study, urbanization follows a logistic growth model. This means that in the beginning when the total population lives in rural areas, urbanization level increases at a slower pace but as the level of urbanization rises the rate of urbanization also rises. A point comes when the population observes highest speed of urbanization. Beyond this point, although the level of urbanization may continue to rise further but the speed of urbanization starts decreasing. At some level below 100 percent urbanization stops increasing further. As the level of urbanization increases a similar amount of rural-to-urban migration would result in smaller speed of urbanization. One cannot expect a highly urbanized country with a level of urbanization above 80 percent to be urbanizing at the same speed as a lowly urbanized country with a level of urbanization at 5-10 percent.
TABLE 7.1: LEVEL AND TREND OF URBANIZATION IN INDIA, 1901-
Year Total Rural Urban Level of urbanization
Speed (trend) of urbanization 1901 238,396,327 212,544,454 25,851,873 10.84 - 1911 252,093,390 226,151,757 25,941,633 10.29 -0. 1921 251,321,213 223,235,043 28,086,170 11.18 0. 1931 278,977,238 245,521,249 33,455,989 11.99 0. 1941 318,660,580 274,507,283 44,153,297 13.86 1. 1951 361,088,090 298,644,381 62,443,709 17.29 2. 1961 439,234,771 360,298,168 78,936,603 17.97 0. 1971 548,159,652 439,045,675 109,113,977 19.91 1. 1981 683,329,097 523,866,550 159,462,547 23.34 1. 1991 846,302,688 628,691,676 217,611,012 25.71 1. 2001 1,028,737,436 742,490,639 286,119,689 27.81 0.
THREE MILLION PLUS CITIES
There are about 4,000 cities and towns in India. About 300 cities have population over 1,00,000. Among them seven cities have population more than 3 million (Indiamart.com, 2009). According to U.S. Census Bureau Mumbai ranks third in the world after Tokyo and Mexico. Kolkata 9th and Delhi 14th. The names and populations of 3 million plus cities are given in Table 7.2.
TABLE 7.2: CITIES IN INDIA WITH THREE MILLION PLUS POPULATION City Population in 1991 Population in 2001 Greater Mumbai (Bombay) 9,925,891 11,914, Delhi 7,206,704 9,817, Kolkata (Calcutta) 4,399,819 4,580, Bangalore 2,660,088 4,292, Chennai (Madras) 3,841,396 4,216, Ahmedabad 2,876,710 3,515, Hyderabad 2,964,638 3,449,
