1. Introduction

Urbanization, indeed is the process of becoming urban, moving to cities, changing from agriculture to other pursuits common to cities, such as trade, manufacturing, industry and management, and corresponding changes of behaviour patterns. It is the process of expansion in the entire system of interrelationships by which population maintains itself in the habitat.

GLOBAL URBAN POPULATION

As per World Urbanization Prospects, 2014 just a few countries are home to half of the world’s urban population. China has the largest urban population (758 million), followed by India (410 million). These two countries account for 30 per cent of the world’s urban population and, with another five countries, the United States of America (263 million), Brazil (173 million), Indonesia (134 million), Japan (118 million) and the Russian Federation (105 million), account for more than half of the world’s urban population.

An increase in the size of towns and cities leading to growth of urban population is the most significant dimension of urbanization. In ancient times there have been great many cities such as Rome or Baghdad, but ever since industrialization and increasing industrial production cities have grown phenomenally and now urbanization is very much part of our contemporary life.

Urbanization in India was mainly a post-independence phenomenon, due to adoption of mixed system of economy by the country, which gave rise to the development of private sector. Urbanization has been taking place at an increasingly fast rate in India. Population residing in urban areas in India, according to 1901 census, was 11.4%. This count increased to 28.53% in the 2001 census, and has crossed 30% as per the 2011 census, standing at 31.16% to be exact.