URBAN SETTLEMENT

URBAN SETTLEMENT

As in case of rural settlements, there are different bases of classifying urban settlements, e.g., population size, occupational structure and administration.
SIZE OF POPULATION It is the most important criteria used by almost each country of the world to designate a settlement as urban. However, there are differences among the countries in the exact number that differentiates urban settlements form rural settlement. For example, in Den­mark, Sweden and Finland, all places having more than 250 persons are called urban. In Iceland, Canada, Columbia, Argentina and USA, the minimum size of population for a city is 300,1000,1500,2000 and 2500 persons respectively. In Japan, places having more than 30,000 persons are called urban areas. In India, the lower limit of population for a place to be termed urban is 5,000. In India, besides the size of population, its density is also an additional condition, which is over 400 persons per sq km.

OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE Some countries take into account the major economic activities as a criterion for designating a settlement as urban. For example, in Italy, a settlement is urban if more than 50 per cent of its economically productive population are engaged in non­agricultural activities. In India, more than 75 per cent of the work force of the settlement should be engaged in non­agricultural pursuits to be called urban.

ADMINISTRATIVE DECISION The administrative set up is also a criterion for classifying a settlement as urban in some countries. For example, in India, even a settlement with less than 5,000 population is eligible for becoming urban if it has a municipality, cantonment board or a notified area. In Brazil and Bolivia, any administrative centre is called urban irrespective of its size.
GROWTH OF URBANISATION IN INDIA In 1901, only 11% of the total population (2.56 crore) was urbanised. There were 1834 towns and cities. The urban-rural ratio was 1:8.1. By 1951, urban population had grown to 6.16 crore, comprising 17.6% of the total population. Thus, from 1901 to 1951, the growth in urban population was 240%, while that from 1951 to 2001 was about 450°,.{.. The rapid growth in last few decades has been because of rapid industrialisation' and migration to urban areas, 50% of which are from rural areas.

Towns and Cities These are classified in six categories according to their population (see table on growth of urbanisation by class of town). Class-I towns, having a population of 1,00,000 or more, have grown rapidly. There were 24 class I towns in 1901 having a total population of 6.59 million. The number has gone up to over 300 in 2001, accounting for 139.73 million population. The class I towns accounjed for 25.71 per cent of the total urban population, while in 2001, they accounted for 64.89 per cent of the total urban population. Larger towns grow faster because they have the necessary infrastructure for the development of industries.
Smaller towns in classes IV, V and VI, having popu­lation of less than 20,000, are more numerous than towns in classes I, II, and III. But the share of urban population living in towns of smaller size (classes IV, V, and VI) has declined sharply from 47.23 per cent to 10.88 per cent in 1991. The number of towns in classes II and III together declined slightly from 27% to 24.29% during the same period. Thus, we can distinguish three categories of towns according to their growth. While class I towns have shown maximum growth, class II and class III towns have retained their growth rate at the average level. The towns of classes IV, V, and VI have shown a decline in growth rate during the last eighty years.