India is a very large country with more than a billion population and 31.3 percent of this population lives in 3784 Census Towns and 4041 Statutory Towns as per Census of India (2011). Therefore, a classification of towns in India is complicated and a humongous exercise. Hence, devising a simple method to classify Indian towns … Read more
Ashok Mitra gave his functional classification of town in year 1991 based on industrial categories in Census of India (1971). He was the Registrar General of Census of India. He, like Harris and Nelson, also classified the towns and cities of India based on economic function. Ashok Mitra’s functional classification of towns is most appropriate in … Read more
Lewis Mumford proposed Organic Classification of Cities in a book titled “The Culture of Cities (1938)”. Mumford’s organic classification of cities is similar to Griffith Taylor’s Classification of Towns. However, Mumford’s views present a comprehensive picture of the city’s development through his organic theory. Basis of Mumford’s Classification Mumford was an American sociologist and philosopher. … Read more
Functional classifications of towns by C. D. Harris and Howard Nelson are primarily based on quantitative or empirical parameters. However, some classifications are based on theoretical knowledge and historical trends. One such classification of towns is Organic Classification of Towns. Such classifications assume the town to be an organism. Therefore, the town must go through … Read more
Functional classification of cities by Harris is the a sophisticated classification of towns based on sound quantitative techniques. C.D. Harris published this classification in a research paper “A Functional Classification of Cities in United States” in 1943. Prior to Harris, other urban geographers and planners presented the classification of cities based on their experience and … Read more
The functional classification of towns by Nelson is based on experience of North American cities. He provided this classification of towns in his research paper “A Service Classification of American Cities” in 1955. He improved upon the Classification of Cities by C. D. Harris. However, Nelson’s method is more objective and has lesser individual bias … Read more
Urban planners use the term ‘Urban sprawl’ in a pejorative sense to describe the unplanned expansion of relatively low intensity urban land-use into rural areas along major roadways. This urban expansion is unplanned. Therefore, management of this kind of urban area is an administrative nightmare. Definition of Urban Sprawl Urban Sprawl is a starfish shaped … Read more
The concept of Conurbation in Geography has been given by Patrick Geddes. He was primarily a town planner but also had interest in biology, ecology and sociology. Geddes also gave the concept of place, work and folk. He is also known as father of modern town planning. Definition of Conurbation Definition: Conurbation refers to the very … Read more
The concept of Rural-Urban Continuum has been given by R.E. Pahl. This concept refers to the gradation of life between urban and rural areas. We use the word ‘continuum’ when there is no strict boundary between two areas. Therefore, rural-urban continuum denotes that there is no clear and distinct boundary between rural and urban areas’ … Read more
R. J. Pryor gave the concept of rural-urban fringe in the year 1968. He observed that the characteristics of city do not disappear suddenly at the municipal boundary but slowly fade away outwards from the city. Thus, he arrived at the concept of rural-urban fringe. Definition of Rural-Urban Fringe It is the zone of transition … Read more