definition, nature and scope of urban geography, Exercises of Geography

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DEFINITION, NATURE AND SCOPE OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY Taruna Bansal Component-I(A) - Personal Details Component-I (B) - Description of Module Items Description of Module Subject Name Geography Paper Name Urban Geography Module Name/Title Definition, nature and scope of urban geography Module Id UG-01 Pre-requisites Objectives To understand the various definitions of urban geography and examine its nature and scope Keywords Urban Geography, Definitions, Nature and Scope Role Name Affiliation Principal Investigator Prof. Masood Ahsan Siddiqui Department of Geography, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi Paper Coordinator, if any Dr. Deeksha Bajpai Dyal Singh College, Delhi University Content Writer/Author (CW) Dr. Taruna Bansal Department of Geography, Jam Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi Content Reviewer (CR) Dr. Deeksha Bajpai Dyal Singh College, Delhi University Language Editor (LE) Component II - e-Text DEFINITION, NATURE AND SCOPE OF URBAN GEOGRAPHY Taruna Bansal Urban geography as a discipline evolved in the twentieth century. Over the time it has developed into a well established discipline which deals with the study of urban settlements within the framework of their geographical setting. One can say that the scope of the sub-discipline constitutes the study of origin of urban settlements, their morphology and its development, their functions in and around their environs. With the increase of population and these settlements emerging as the magnets of economic, social and political developments; the discipline had gained importance in social sciences. The earlier urban geographers mainly concentrated on the physical aspects of the cities and their situation. The main emphasis was on the relationship that existed between the location and the structure of some particular cities and their surroundings. With time the framework of urban geographers changed and in present times two common approaches are identifiable. The first one mainly deals with cities as distinct phenomenon located on the surface of the earth. They usually study the distribution, size, function and growth rate of urban settlements along with the spatial interactions between different urban centres. The second viewpoint analyzes cities with respect to their morphology (layout and build up area) and intensity of land use within the city. Within this framework some writers have also started analyzing problems related to urban growth and development. Over the period of time the scope of urban geography has extended and now basically includes the areal association of activities within urban places; the economic base of cities; patterns of distribution of the cities over the earth surface; distribution of different geographical phenomenon within the city and the spatial interactions of one city with the other. In other words, it can be said that urban geography has a distinctive focus with its primary concern being the study of association of activities in urban areas, association of land use and other features. The main focus is on the interpretation of patterns and relationships among different cities as well as that between urban and non-urban places. Various definitions have been given by different urban geographers to understand the nature and scope of urban geography. Few have been listed here to understand how the scope and subject matter of urban geography has evolved over time. Dickinson (1901) defines urban geography as the study of a city directing the neighbouring region. He describes that the city behaves like a king in its hinterland. Figure 1 Thrusts of Study in Urban Geography P PP A B A C A Source: R. M. Northam (1975) Urban Geography, pp.5 Through this diagram he indicates the different inquiries that urban geography should look into. A involves relationship between a place and its people; B deals with association between different places; C is concerned with the study of relationship between people of different places and D is associated with the relations that exist within one place or among the people of one particular place. Emrys Jones (1966) outlines various attributes of cities. In his words, a city is a geographical reservoir of roads and dwellings, a centre of commerce and administration, a type of society, even the cultural form of the mind of the urban people or the way of life style. Various attributes that can form the scope and content of this sub-discipline of geography have been summarized in the following diagram – lace People Place People D Figure 2 Various Attributes of an Urban Settlement VARIOUS ATTRIBUTES OF AN URBAN SETTLEMENT Inherent Structural Functional Progression Linkages Cityscape i. Origin i. Morphological i. Residential i. Growth as i. Hinterland i. Surroundings ii. Site ii. Layout ii. Economic organism ii. Umland ii. Blueprint iii. Situation iii. Demography iii. Social ii. Decline iii. Rural-urban iii. Road map for iv. Process of iv. Taxonomy iii. Revival Fringe future strategies Urbanization v. Land Use iv. Growth iv. Peri-Urban In India, one of the leading scholars in urban geography has been Prof. R.L. Singh (1955). He stressed on three concepts under the scope of urban geography, these are: (a) physical structure of the city, (b) stage of city’s historical development, and (c) processes that affect the city structure ICSSR, in the fourth survey of geographical research shows that during the period 1976 and 1982 the urban geographers in India focussed on the following topics that come under the umbrella of urban geography. These are - trends and patterns of urbanization; Urban hierarchical order; Inner structure; Capital; Land use; Functional classification; Slums and squatter settlements; Rural-urban interaction; The rural-urban fringe; The interaction between the Umland and the city and surrounding settlements; Urban environmental problems like Pollution, Poverty, Crime and quality of life; Urban Infrastructure; Urban governance; Tourism; Urban planning and urban metropolitan problems. Meaning of Urban Place: The most important and immediate problem in deciding what 'urban' is? It is different from its equivalent, that is, the rural? In everyday life, we know that the difference between rural and urban is dependent on the function of that settlement that is in the former the main function is agriculture while in the latter the population by large is engaged in non-agricultural activities. In spite of this basic and predominant difference it is still difficult to define urban settlement as the process of urbanization is dynamic in nature. It becomes very difficult to confine the term in a water tight compartment. The work becomes more cumbersome as 'an urban place' is defined separately by different scholars and agencies. For example, Anderson, a sociologist defines “urban” as a way of life or a condition of man that is characterised with certain attitudes like superficiality, ambiguity etc. But, for, geographers it is much more than that. They perceive urban in terms of location which has following features – (a) the population density of such a settlement is relatively more than that of general population, (b) most of the dwellers are engaged in non-agricultural economic activities and (c) the centre acts as a hub of social, cultural, administrative and economic activities. Dickinson (1948) states that an urban settlement can be regarded as a man-made habitat on the surface of the Earth; where economic activities are separated from the soil and are carried out in association with similar activities at a fixed location. For Northam (1975) city is a locale with a relatively large population living urbanism as their way of life. Even the United Nations Demographic Year Book (United Nations, 1990) has given many examples, in which different countries that define demographic are included. The United Nations Organization defines permanent settlement with a minimum population of 20,000 in the form of an urban location. But in many countries, Botswana (5,000), Ethiopia (2,000), Argentina (2,000), Israel (2,000), Czechoslovakia (5,000), Iceland (200), Norway (200), Portugal (10,000), Japan (50,000), Australia (1,000), India (5,000), etc. But, the UN Demographic Year Book concludes: “There is no point in the continuum from large agglomerations to small clusters or scattered dwellings where urbanity disappears and rurality begins the division between urban and rural popula­tions is necessarily arbitrary.” The review of these definitions reveals that the following characteristics can be identified to define a place in the form of urban. These are: (1) A place designated by the administrative status (2) minimum population (3) minimum population density (4) A concept of reconciliation or loose dealing settlement to join or exclude suburban areas (5) Proportion of non-agricultural occupations and (6) A functional character In the case of our country (India), the census of 1981 has said the following places as urban: (1) Municipal, City Board, Cantonment Board / Notified Town Area Centres; (2) a minimum population of 5,000;