Evolution and Systemic Processes of the Indian Urban System

Joël Querci (1)

1 ESPACE - Études des Structures, des Processus d’Adaptation et des Changements de l’Espace

While the Indian urbanization rate is above 30% in 2011, the country remains mainly rural. Nonetheless, this means an urban population more numerous than the urban population of the United States of America in 2012. Given the presence of 35 millionaires cities in 2001 and 46 in 2011, we need to assess the evolution of the Indian urban system. The emergence of cities increasingly large led us to study the evolution of the urban framework since the early 20th century. The first step consists in the assessment of the Indian urban structure using Zipf’s rank-size rule. The aim is to make such an analysis for each census from 1901. A second step will focus on the determination and the measure of the systemic processes involved in the evolution of the Indian urban system. The results showed us an urban situation nationally balanced and regionally unbalanced with primate cities (Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi). We can actually highlight the multiscalar organization of the Indian urban system (a feature of a complex urban system) and to assume the presence of a spatial resilience phenomenon. This assumption results in the progressive return to a form of structural equilibrium. This means the reduction of the different situations of urban primacy regionally observed across the last century. Thus, we will discuss of that spatial resilience phenomenon in the particular context of the Indian urban system.

Mots clés: Urban hierarchy; Zipf; Resilience; Urban system; India

Domaines: Géographie

Joël Querci. Evolution and Systemic Processes of the Indian Urban System. Annual Meeting - Association of American Geographers, Apr 2013, Los Angeles, United States. ⟨hal-01140581⟩