Urbanisation, Development and Environment

The symbiotic relationship between urbanization and development that had been obtained in the industrialized countries of the West, was not found to be replicated in case of developing countries because of the differential roles of the capitalist development. Spatial development pattern in these countries became uneven as also the pattern of urbanization, evident in the differentials between core and periphery at various scales. Resultanty, large cities in such countries have become centers of population and economic activities as well as extractors of regional resources, but not foci of regional development. Environmental degradation has further surfaced as an associated element of such growth, both in urban and rural areas. In recent years operation of international capital has intensified the pattern further leading to extreme metropolitanisation and intra-regional disparity. It is in this backdrop the book analyse the complex pattern of urbanization, development and the environmental situation primarily in India in longitudinal terms. It deals with the wise range of topics on economy, society and environment both at general and spatial scales, linking theoriretical discussions with empirical analyses.