Though there were cities in ancient civilization it is only in the last two centuries that urbanization has become a characteristic form of human life.

In India, urban civilization even existed nearly 5,000 years back. Archaeological discoveries have shown that the Indian cities were in existence for a thousand years from 2500 B.C. to 1500 B.C. The Indus Valley Civilization extended over nearly a thousand miles from Ropar in Haryana in the north to Rangpur in Kathiawar in the south and up to Baluchistan in the west. The chief cities were Harappa and Mohenjodaro, which are now in Pakistan. Each city had a well-fortified citadel, which was probably used for both religious and governmental purposes. The layout of the cities, the regular planning of the streets, the uniformity in weights and measures, all indicate that there must have been a strong centralized State. Around 1700 B.C. there was eventual disappearance of Indus Valley civilization.

But even at the time of Buddha 2,500 years ago, Kasi (Varanasi) and Kausambi were famous cities. In the time of the Mauryas, Pataliputra (Patna) was a big city. The great temple cities of Ayodhya, Mathura, Hardwar, Dwaraka, Kasi, Prayag, Puri, Kanchi and Madhurai are very ancient.

The early historical period - 600 B.C. to A.D. 500

The emergence of new kingdoms necessitated the building of new capital cities, palaces, and consequently, there was the rise of elitist classes of nobles, militia and priests. There was spread of regions through territorial conquest and expansion.

North India

The most important cities that were on the rise (mostly as capitals of different kingdoms) were Hastinapura, the capital of the Kaurav Kingdom of the Puru-Kuru branch of the tribe; Indraprastha, the capital of the Pandavas, Achichhatra, the capital of North Panchala Kingdom, Mathura and Kanyakubja or present Kanauj developed as the twin capitals of the kingdom of the Panchalas; Ayodhya, the capital of the Kosala, was set up on the bank of River sarju near present Fyzabad etc.

During Mauryan period many other types of towns came into existence apart from capital or administrative cities. These towns or cities were categoriser as: Rajadhaniya nagara, Sthaniya nagara, Kharveta, Kheta, Putabhedana, Nigama, Pattana and Dronamukha. Out of these the first four were administrative towns, Rajadhaniya being the capital city and the largest of all cities. The latter four types were mainly commercial cities The Putabhedana was a large commercial centre specializing in wholesale trade, the Nigama was an ordinary market centre, the Pattana was a coastal trading town and the Dronamukha served as a port city being located at the mouth of a river. Apart from towns like Khadavara, a military camp and Nivesa, an encampment, there were some specialized centres of learning and religion, arts and crafts and medicine.

The most important Tamil cities that developed in South India were Puhar, the Chola port and coastal capital; Uraiyar, the Chola inland capital; Korkai, the Pandhya coastal capital; Madurai, the Pandhya inland capital; Musiri, the Chera port; Kanchi (Kancheepuram of today), the inland capital of Tondaimandalam; and Vanji or Karur, the Chera inland capital. A distinctive feature of the southern kingdoms (Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras) was the existence of two capital cities for each kingdom.

The Medieval Period - A.D. 600-1800

The Muslim rulers, in general, had not taken to town building but there were some capital cities, which initially received real attention. Delhi and surrounding areas like Agra in 1506 were developed as new urban centers. The major urban centres, during this period, were Mathura, Thaneshwar, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patliputra, Gwalior, Ujjain, Dhar, Somnath, Meerut, Panipat, Broach, Baroda and Srinagar.

Urban development south of the Vindhyas was very different. The entire region situated south of the Vindhyan range witnessed great urban development with the beginning of 7th century A.D. mainly due to stable political situation of the South India Important cities like Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Golconda, (now in ruins) and Hyderabad were the capitals of Muslim kings, while Hampi (now in ruins) and Pune belonged to Hindu kings. Other major cities were Gulbarga, Badami, Kolhpur, etc. The cities had mostly planned street layouts and large market centres-as seen in the Char Minar area of Hyderabad. Mostly the cities were walled and the centre of the city consisted of great monuments, like mosques or palaces.

Urbanisation in the British Period (A.D. 1800-1947)

The Portuguese were the first in the race, who established new port towns in India at Panaji in Goa in 1510 and Bombay in 1532. They were followed by the Dutch who set up their first factory at Machilipatnam in 1605 and Nagapattinam in 1658 and subsequently, came the British who established themselves in Madras in 1639 and Calcutta in 1690. The last of the European power was the French who set up factory at Surat in 1668, at Pondicherry in 1673 and Chandernagore in 1690.

The centres of commercial activity that they established became important urban centres in small span of time, e.g., Goa, Pondicherry, Chandernagore, Mahe, Yanam, Karikal, etc. The three centres of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were entirely new cities established by the British.

In 1881 the level of urbanisation was 9.1 per cent, which rose only to 10.84 per cent by 1901. By this time India had 25 cities with one lakh or more population and 69 cities with a population of 50,000 or over. The major contributions of the British, during the 20th century, to the urban scene were.

The creation of Metropolitan cities

It has been already discussed that the British influence made Calcutta, Chennai and Mumbai as the most important cities with the concentration of administrative, commercial and industrial activities. Mostly the city's focal point was the central commercial area, with tall, European-style buildings, occupied by the banks and headquarters of commercial and industrial houses. Rail and road transportation formed junction at the city's focal point.

Apart from the administrative headquarters that emerged as the most prominent towns and cities, there were some smaller administrative centres known as 'Civil Lines' and the Cantonments that were mostly built near major towns for providing security.

Britishers established a number of hill stations at selected spots on the hills and mountains of North, Central and South India. The British belonged to the region of cool temperate climate and for them extreme hot condition during summer season was intolerable, inhospitable and they considered it a threat to good health and longevity. For instance, Shimla-Mussoorie-Nainital near Delhi, Nilgiri-Kodaikanal near Madras and Mahabaleshwar in the Western Ghats near Bombay. The plan and architecture of these cities followed English style and mostly the common Indians remained alienated from these resorts.

Post-Independence Period

After independence urban development in India entered a new and more important phase under the planned economy of the Indian Government. The rate of urban growth in the post-independence period was very rapid. The number of one-lakh and million cities increased and along with them increased the urban population. The proportion of urban population to total population increased from 17.3 per cent in 1951 to 27.8 percent in 2001. A dramatic change occurred in the urban scene as it went through different quinquenium of planned growth.

To rehabilitate the refugees during partition, 14 new towns were built-one was in West Bengal, five in Uttar Pradesh, four in the Punjab, three in Gujarat and one in Maharashtra. Additionally, some refugee colonies (new townships), designated as model towns, were set up near existing cities The model towns added new dimension to the level of urbanisation in India.

The partition of India in 1947 and the reorganization of states on linguistic lines led to the creation of many states. The new states were without capital cities. These states with Central assistance built new capital cities. Chandigarh, Bhubaneshwar, Gandhinagar and Dispur are examples of such towns. Most of these settlements are planned. Chandigarh, for example, has been laid on a grid plan.

The steel cities of Rourkela, Durgapur, Bhilai Nagar and Bokaro are best examples of this situation. Other new industrial cities were the refinery towns of Barauni, Noonmati, Haldia and Ankaleshwar; the fertilizer towns at Sindri, Mittrapur, Naya Nangal and Namrup; port towns such as Kandla and Paradeep; and aluminium towns like Korba and Ratnagiri.

In the post-independence period the areas served by the metropolises and their activities have increased considerably. 

Growth centre approach

Provisions were made to develop adequate infrastructural and other facilities at the small, medium and intermediate towns so as to make them ‘growth centres’ in promoting rural development. Further, 200 towns were to be identified for integrated development in various states. The Seventh Plan, on the one hand, stressed the need for integrated development of small and medium towns and, on the other, minimizing the growth of the metropolitan cities. To attain this objective, special incentives are offered for the establishment of industries in small and medium towns. Apart from these steps, the emphasis on housing for the urban poor and the low income groups, integrated development and provisions for promotion of basic amenities for the urban-dwellers are being continued.

Urban Growth-India

India no longer lives in villages. By the turn of the millennium 305 million Indians shall live in nearly 3700 towns and cities spread across the length and breadth of the country. This shall comprise around 28% of its population, in sharp contrast to only 60 millions (15%) who lived in urban areas in 1947 when the country became Independent. During the last fifty years the population of India has grown two and half times, but Urban India has grown by nearly five times. In numerical terms, India’s urban population is second largest in the world after China, and is higher than the total urban population of all countries put together barring China, USA and Russia.

Out of 1027 million (or 102.7 crore) population of India, as per Census 2001, 742 million live in rural areas and 285 million in urban areas comprising of 72.2% and 27.8% of the population respectively. Thus, around 28 out of every 100 persons in India live in urban areas. In other words, for every 100 persons living in rural areas of India, 39 live in urban areas. The highest percentage of urban population is in Delhi (93.0%) and the lowest in Himachal Pradesh (9.8%). In eight States/UTs in India the percentage of urban population exceed 40% level? These are Delhi, Chandigarh, Pondicherry, Goa, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Trends of Urbanisation in India

The following table gives the proportion of urban population to total population between 1901-2001:

Levels of Urbanisation

According to 1991 census, there were wide variations amongst the States and regions in the level of urbanisation. Union Territories of Delhi (92.73%) and Chandigarh (93.63%) were the most and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (8.47%) the least urbanized in the country. Among the major states Maharashtra was the most urbanized with 38.73 percent of its population living in urban areas, followed by Gujarat (34.40%) and Tamil Nadu (34.20%).

Inter-State variation in the annual growth of urban population and urban-rural growth differential (URG(d) is more revealing. Except in Kerala, Gujarat and Maharashtra, the URGD is lower in all other states during 1981-91 than in 1971-81. Conspicuous deceleration in urban growth during 1981-91 has taken place in Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. In the latest census these

Highlights of the data of urban growth

Notwithstanding, the difference in definitions of all the constituents in urban areas in various countries, the degree of urbanisation in India is the amongst the lowest in the world. As per the UN estimates for the year 2000, 47 percent of total population of the world lives in urban areas. The percentage of urban population in Asia is 36.7 while that for Europe, South America and North America are 74.8, 79.8 and 77.2 respectively.

The number of persons living in urban areas for every 100 persons of the country increased from 11 to 28 between 1901 and 2001 registering an increase of 17 per 100 during the time span of the twentieth century.

The pace of urbanisation has also been slower in India as compared to other countries in the world. As per the UN estimates the degree of urbanisation in the world in 1950 was around 30 percent, which increased to 47 percent in the year 2000. In India, it increased from 17.3 in 1951 to 27.8 in 2001. China and Indonesia, which had lower levels of urbanisation in 1950, have now overtaken India with percentage of urban population being 32.1 and 40.9 respectively.

The percentage decadal growth rate of urban population reveals that in India it grew at a faster pace from the decade 1921-1931 until 1951. Thereafter it registered a sharp drop during the decade 1951-1961. The decades 1961-71 and 1971-81 showed significant improvement in the growth rates, which has thereafter steadily dropped to the present level of 31.2 in case of decadal growth and 2.7 in case of annual average exponential growth rate. The sharp drop in urban rate during 1951-61 was larger mainly due to declassification of a very large number of towns during that period.

Although the rural growth rate has been fluctuating from the first decade of the previous century, for the decades between 1951-61 and 1991-2001 it fluctuated within a small band.