Conurbations and metropolitan regions UPSC |Settlements | Geography of India

Depending on size, services availability, functions, urban settlement can be divided into the following types:

• Town
• City
• Conurbation
• Metropolitan City
• Megalopolis

Town:

It is an example of a smaller  urban settlement and provides specific function such as:

• Manufacturing
• Retail and wholesale trade
• Professional services

City:

Cities are much larger than town and have a most complex life than the town. It has a greater number of economic functions. It has generally less than 1 million population.

• For example, Bokaro Steel City, Ooty,

Conurbation:

The conurbation is made up of two words; con + urban; means continuous urbanization.

Conurbation term was coined by Patrick Geddes in 1915. The conurbation has resulted in the merging of originally separated towns, cities, or metropolitan cities. It is formed due to the agglomeration of a town and adjoining towns or cities. Conurbation comprises the main city with its satellite towns or other towns.

For example, 

• the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, it is comprised of seven corporation and 15 municipal councils. 
• Delhi NCR region comprises Delhi with the surrounding districts of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. 

Future conurbation region:

• Mumbai-Pune
• Mumbai-Ahmedabad

Metropolitan:

As per the census of India, the cities having a population between 1 to 5 million are termed as metropolitan. 

There are total-46 cities having more than 1 million population as per the 2011 population census.

Metropolitan may or may not be formed through conurbation or urban agglomeration process.

For example, all the second-order cities in India is an example of metropolitan cities; such as Surat, Nagpur, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow

Megalopolis or super metropolition region:

Megalopolis words coined by Jeans Gottman ( 1957). It is generally a union of Megalopolis. As per the population census of India, the urban settlement has a population larger than 5 million population.

The following are Megalopolis in India:

• Mumbai: 16.4 million
• Kolkata: 13.22 million
• Delhi: 12.79 million
• Chennai: 6.42
• Bangalore
• Hyderabad

For a detailed explanation, watch the below video:

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