CLASSIFICATION OF URBAN CENTRES IN INDIA
Cities are classified into various ways. Gist and Halbert have given a six-fold classification of a city based on its functional concept as follows:
Production centres, e.g., Ahmedabad for textiles and Jamshedpur for steel.
Centres of trade and commerce, e.g., Mumbai and New York.
Political capitals, e.g., New Delhi and London.
Cultural centres, e.g., Kanchipuram and Varanasi.
Resort cities, e.g., Shimla and Ooty.
Diversified cities: they have varied interests and are not outstanding in any particular activity.
E. E. Muntz has classified the cities based on the principal activity or activities earned on by them. He has given the following classification:
Defense cities: These are the cities that were built for defense purpose with walls around them. For example, Bidar.
Commercial cities: For example, Mumbai and New York.
Manufacturing or industrial cities: For example, Jamshedpur and Ahmedabad.
Religious cities: For example, new Delhi and London.
Resort cities: For example, Shimla and Ooty.
Educational cities: For example, Oxford and Cambridge.
The above two classifications have made an attempt to distinguish the cities but most of the cities of today perform multiple activities. So, it is very difficult to demarcate all the cities as one or the other kind of city. Take for instance, Delhi, which is a political centre, a commercial centre, an educational centre and also a resort centre. This city performs numerous functions. Thus, it is difficult to classify all the cities.
