Types of Urban Centres in India
To understand urban morphology—that is, the form and structure of cities—we must also understand how Indian urban centres originated and evolved. In India, not all cities have the same origin story. Broadly, we can divide them into four categories based on their historical development.
Cities that Evolved from Ancient Towns and Villages
These are cities that have very deep historical roots—many even date back to ancient civilizations.
Examples:
- Varanasi (one of the oldest living cities in the world),
- Madurai,
- Patna (ancient Pataliputra).
These cities often grew organically around religious, cultural, or trade hubs in ancient India.
👉 Key Features:
- They still show signs of their village-based origin—narrow, winding lanes, dense residential clusters, temples, tanks, ghats, etc.
- There is strong caste-based spatial differentiation—certain castes dominate specific mohallas (neighbourhoods), a feature you don’t typically see in modern urban planning.
Cities that Originated from Medieval Towns
These cities flourished mainly during the medieval period, especially under Islamic and Rajput rulers.
Examples:
- Delhi,
- Lucknow,
- Jaipur.
👉 Key Features:
- They prominently display Islamic architectural elements—such as minarets, domes, walled enclosures, forts, and Meena bazaars.
- Jaipur, though a Rajput-planned city, also follows a strong grid-iron pattern, showing early urban planning.
Now, here’s a subtle but important sociological point:
Both ancient and medieval cities show forms of social differentiation—but of different kinds.
- In ancient cities, the layout often reflects caste-based segregation.
- In medieval cities, class- and nobility-based differentiation was more prominent. Elites and nobles lived in grand havelis and palaces, while the common masses occupied peripheral zones.
Cities Developed Around British Administrative Centres
This is a very significant category because many present-day Indian metros—like Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai—transformed under British colonial rule.
Examples:
- Mumbai,
- Pune,
- Allahabad,
- Nagpur.
Many of these cities were either:
- Upgraded medieval towns, or
- Cantonments (military bases).
👉 Key Features:
- Strong presence of European architectural style, especially Victorian architecture in public buildings, churches, and railway stations.
- Civil lines (elite European residential areas),
- Cantonment areas,
- Railway colonies, and
- Broad roads with proper landscaping—all of which reflect planned colonial infrastructure.
This category also laid the foundation for modern urban civic planning in India.
Post-Independence Planned Cities
After 1947, India consciously began designing planned urban centres from scratch. These were meant to be functional, organised, and symbolic of a new, modern India.
Examples:
- Chandigarh (designed by Le Corbusier),
- Bhubaneswar,
- Gandhinagar,
- Dispur,
- Bokaro.
👉 Key Features:
- Clear zoning of land-use (residential, industrial, commercial),
- Emphasis on infrastructure, transport networks, and green spaces,
- Grid patterns and wide roads—designed on modern planning principles.
These cities serve as models for how cities should be developed—but even today, only a few follow such systematic planning.
Co-Existence of Old and New in Modern India
Finally, it’s important to note:
India’s urban landscape today is highly hybrid.
You’ll often find high-rise buildings, malls, IT parks, and modern airports—right next to or within older urban fabrics that still reflect ancient, medieval, or colonial characteristics.
For example:
- In Delhi, Connaught Place (colonial) sits beside Chandni Chowk (medieval) and Gurgaon (modern).
- In Mumbai, skyscrapers tower over colonial Fort areas and ancient fishing villages (koliwadas).
This juxtaposition of traditional and modern, planned and organic, makes the morphology of Indian cities extremely diverse and unique.
✅ In Summary:
India’s cities can be classified based on their historical origin into:
- Ancient urban centres – caste-based layout.
- Medieval towns – class/nobility-based layout, Islamic architecture.
- Colonial cities – European planning features like civil lines and cantonments.
- Post-independence planned cities – modern urban planning.
Modern Indian urbanisation features a fusion of all these, making every city a living museum of India’s complex spatial and historical evolution.