Functional Classification of Towns | Geography Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Functional Classification of Towns and Cities

• The functional classification of towns and cities is essential for understanding their roles in various fields such as occupation, industry, economy, religion, society, and politics. Urban centers are known for their diverse functions, as they serve as economic hubs, hosting a variety of secondary, tertiary, and related activities. It is difficult to pinpoint the specific role a city plays since most cities have multiple functions and serve different purposes.
• To better grasp the complexity of urban centers, it is crucial to classify them based on their predominant functions and specializations. This can be measured by the number of workers employed in a specific activity relative to the total population, which indicates the level of specialization within a city. Although all cities have certain economic activities, some are unique to particular urban areas, including administration, education, trade, and transportation.
• In summary, functional classification is an intricate academic task that helps us study and comprehend the diverse nature of urban centers. This involves categorizing cities based on their primary functions and specializations, which can be determined through the workforce participation in specific activities.
• City classification has been attempted on the basis of various criteria such as:
  (i) Age of city
  (ii) Stage of city
  (iii) Population size
  (iv) Functional classification

The initial scheme of classification does not focus on classification alone but on settlements in general, and classified them on the basis of types of development and economy.

Classification of Cities on the basis of Age

• Sub-infantile: The initial stage of a city, characterized by a single, ill-defined street.
• Infantile: At this stage, the city has no clear distinction between industrial, commercial, and residential areas, although larger houses may be located near the margins. There are no factories.
• Juvenile: Cities at this stage show a fairly clear segregation of a large commercial quarter towards the city center, although the separation of functions is not complete. Residential areas also lack clear differentiation.
• Adolescence: Cities in this stage display clear differentiation of residential zones.
• Early maturity: Similar to the adolescence stage, cities at this stage have differentiated residential zones. The primary difference between the two stages lies in the extent of differentiation.
• Mature: A mature city has separate commercial areas and four distinct residential zones, ranging from mansions to shacks.

Although Taylor's classification is academically interesting, it has practical limitations, as it does not provide specific determinants and is mainly applicable to Western cities under a particular economic system.

2. Mumford's Classification
Lewis Mumford, an American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic, proposed six stages of city development, influenced by the work of Scottish theorist Sir Patrick Geddes:

• Eopolis: The beginnings of urbanization are rooted in rural communities. As people became producers and settled in villages, they established religious centers and markets, which eventually led to the development of cities.
• Polis: As more villages developed, they began to share common interests with their neighbors. These settlements evolved into a brotherhood of traders, accumulating wealth from nearby villages. Religious establishments and market squares expanded, and social stratification emerged, with higher-ranking individuals occupying central locations while others spread outward.
• Metropolis: Small towns and villages in a region merged to form a single entity with a compact site, sufficient water and food supply, and ample land. This city became the metropolis or the "mother city," characterized by specialized trades and surplus production.
• Megalopolis: This stage is marked by cultural diversity, migration, and increasing social indifference. There is also a class struggle, leading to the city's decline.
• Tyrannopolis: At this stage, the city's economic and social scenes transform into a more or less parasitic state, marked by indulgence in luxury and pleasure. The environment deteriorates, and people flee to the countryside. Commercial activities experience booms and slumps.
• Necropolis: The city decays further, with its civilization following a downward trend. Wars, famines, and diseases lead the city to destruction, and cultural institutions suffer a significant decline.

In summary, Taylor's and Mumford's classifications of cities are based on the developmental stages that cities go through. While Taylor's classification focuses on the spatial organization of cities, Mumford's classification emphasizes the social, economic, and cultural aspects of city development. Both classifications provide valuable insights into the evolution of cities but may have limitations in terms of their applicability to different contexts and regions.

Classification of Urban places on the basis of Functions

Non-agricultural activities include administrative, industrial, commercial, and cultural functions. It is rare for an urban place to focus solely on one activity. Instead, towns usually develop a variety of activities and serve multiple functions, such as economic, administrative, and cultural. Almost all towns are expected to provide various services, such as health, education, municipal utilities (like water, electricity, and sanitation), transportation, and marketing.

In the following discussion, we will explore different classifications of urban places based on their functions, as proposed by scholars from around the world.

• Administrative Centers: These towns primarily serve as seats of government and administration. They are home to various government offices and agencies, and their populations are often made up of government employees and their families.
• Industrial Centers: These urban places are characterized by the presence of manufacturing industries and factories. The economy of these towns is typically driven by industrial production, and their populations often consist of factory workers and their families.
• Commercial Centers: Commercial centers are towns that primarily focus on trade, commerce, and business activities. They have well-developed marketplaces, shopping centers, and other commercial establishments, and their populations are often made up of merchants, traders, and business people.
• Cultural Centers: These towns are known for their rich cultural heritage, historical landmarks, and artistic institutions. They often attract tourists and serve as hubs for the preservation and promotion of local culture and traditions.
• Educational Centers: Educational centers are towns that are home to colleges, universities, and other educational institutions. They often have a large student population, and their economies may be driven by the educational sector.
• Health Centers: Health centers are towns that are known for their healthcare facilities, such as hospitals, clinics, and medical research institutions. They often attract patients from surrounding areas, and their populations may include healthcare professionals and their families.
• Transportation Hubs: These urban places are characterized by their well-developed transportation networks, such as airports, railway stations, and bus terminals. They often serve as regional or national transit points and may have populations made up of transportation workers and their families.
• Mixed-Function Centers: Many towns do not fit neatly into one of the above categories, as they may serve multiple functions. For example, a town may be both an administrative center and a commercial center, or it may have a mix of industrial, cultural, and educational functions.

In conclusion, classifying urban places based on their functions can help us better understand the roles they play in regional and national contexts. While some towns may focus on a single function, many others serve multiple functions, providing a diverse range of services to their residents and surrounding areas. 

1. Aurousseau’s Attempt

• In 1921, M. Aurousseau classified towns into six classes with twenty-eight subtypes. The six classes were
  (i) administrative,
  (ii) defense,
  (iii) culture,
  (iv) production-towns,
  (v) communication, and
  (vi) recreation.

• This list, though comprehensive and sometimes considered useful, suffers from the issue of over-generalization in its classification system. Additionally, some of the categories are only relevant to specific countries at particular time periods. The classification method uses arbitrary percentages as cut-off points, making it subjective in determining a town's primary category.
• Economic activities are also overlooked in this classification system, despite their importance in meeting the needs of people living outside a town's municipal limits. The various functional categories proposed by Aurousseau can be confusing, as they often mix functional and locational characteristics. For example, towns classified under the communication category for transferring goods may also have significant locational attributes, such as being located at a tidal limit, fall line, or bridgehead. The same can be said for pilgrimage centers, which are considered cultural towns but also have significant geographical locations, such as mountainous terrains, valleys, or riverbanks.
• Despite these criticisms, Aurousseau's classification system is an important milestone in urban classification and offers a foundation for more advanced methods. It serves as a comprehensive framework that combines a wide range of functional urban activities in order to classify urban centers.

2. Harris’s Classification

• Chauncy D. Harris addressed the shortcomings of previous subjective and judgment-based urban classifications in his 1943 paper, "A Functional Classification of Cities in the United States." By examining 984 towns with populations over 10,000 in the U.S., he was able to quantitatively determine the dominant functions of these multifunctional cities using data from the 1930 Census.
• Harris utilized two key pieces of information - employment and occupational figures - and converted them into percentages to establish threshold points for urban activities with varying significance. This new approach to classification provided a more objective, data-driven method for understanding the functional role of cities in the United States.
• He identified nine principal categories of towns –
  1. manufacturing (M),
  2. retailing (R),
  3. diversified (D),
  4. wholesaling (W),
  5. transportation (T),
  6. mining (S),
  7. educational (E),
  8. resort or retirement (X)
  9. and others (P).
• Harris's classification system has some limitations and is not universally applicable. During its development, metropolitan districts were used as functional units because industry-group data, such as those available today, were not accessible at the time. As a result, smaller cities that lacked metropolitan districts remained unclassified.
• Carter (1975) considered Harris's classification to be subjective, as the determination to include or exclude specific data points, or establish minimum cut-off points, appeared to be based on personal choices and were established using simple empirical methods.
• Additionally, Harris's classification included a category for "Transport and Communications," but workers in telephone and telegraph services were not accounted for, which further highlights the subjective nature of the classification system.

3. Howard Nelson’s Classification

• Nelson improved upon previous classifications by developing a clear and objective method that could be easily verified by others. His research, titled "A Service Classification of American Cities," was published in the journal "Geography" in 1955. 
• Nelson chose to base his classification system solely on the major industrial groups listed in the 1950 Census of Population for standard metropolitan areas, urbanized regions, and urban areas with a population of 10,000 or more.

• He omitted the little significance groups like agriculture and construction, and finally, arrived at the nine activity groups
  (i) manufacturing;
  (ii) mining
  (iii) retail;
  (iv) wholesale;
  (v) personal service;
  (vi) professional services;
  (vii) public administration;
  (viii) transport and communication;
  (ix) finance, insurance, real estate.
• The problem of city specialization, and also the degree of specialization above the average was solved by giving margins of the different degrees to different size classes.
• He did find a definite tendency for the percentages employed in some activities to vary with city size. The question – ‘When is a city specialized?’ was solved by using a statistical technique – the Standard Deviation (SD). [S.D=√d²/N]
• With the help of the above formula, the index value is derived and the lowest deviation from theoretical value projects the city character on the basis of economic functions.
• Percentage of workers in all functions were calculated for each town and then the statistical mean of each function was calculated and towns having percentage above mean functions were taken as specialized towns in that function.
• Thereafter, towns having below the mean were eliminated and the remaining towns were hierarchically arranged on the basis of standard deviation.
• Nelson has not only functionally classified the cities but also taken the functional hierarchy for each function.
• According to Nelson, the city can be specialized in more than one activity and to varying degrees.
• Criticism
  Nelson was criticized by some British Urban geographers especially Moser and Scott who said that this scheme of classification is applicable only for a particular point of time. After few years, there may be a change in occupation statistics. But, a simple change in occupational statistics can’t change the genetic factors of the town.

Functional Classification of Indian Cities

• The functional classification of Indian cities has been a subject of study for urban geographers, who have used various methods and techniques to categorize urban areas based on their functions. Many of these classifications rely on occupational data from the Census of India.
• One of the earliest attempts at functional classification was made by Amrit Lal in 1959, who used the location quotient method to classify Class I cities in India. Lal found that most Class I cities were multifunctional, with only a few exceptions.
• Later, Qazi Ahmad (1965) used 62 variables to classify 102 Indian cities based on their functions. Ashok Mitra (1971, 1973) then used seven categories of workers, grouped into three major functional types: manufacturing, trade, transport, and services.
• However, classifying urban centers in India is a challenging task for several reasons. Firstly, the sheer number of towns in India, which range in size from 5,000 to 10 million people, makes it difficult to handle on a practical level. Secondly, Indian towns have a long and complex history, having been under various regimes for thousands of years. Lastly, there is a lack of standardized data on the functions and economies of Indian cities, as there is no suitable urban agency to manage this information. As a result, the classifications and categorizations of urban places in India vary from state to state and author to author.

A commonly accepted functional classification of Indian cities includes the following categories:

• Administrative Cities
• Defense Towns
• Cultural Cities
• Collection Centers
• Production Centers
• Transfer and Distribution Centers
• Resort Towns
• Residential Towns
• Seaport Towns
• Cities with Diversified Functions

In conclusion, the functional classification of Indian cities is a complex and challenging task due to the vast number of urban areas, their diverse histories, and the lack of standardized data. Despite these challenges, urban geographers have developed various methods to classify cities based on their functions, resulting in several widely-accepted categories.

Administrative Cities

• Administrative cities, also known as administrative towns, primarily serve to manage a country, state, or other administrative divisions. These cities are not limited to capitals but also encompass other centers of governance, such as state, district, and regional headquarters. Within these administrative cities, the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the respective administrative unit operate.
• Some examples of administrative cities include New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Patna, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Aizawl, and Kohima. These cities play a crucial role in the administration and governance of their respective regions.

Defense Towns

• Defense towns are primarily focused on ensuring the protection and security of a nation. These towns are typically home to various military establishments, such as cantonments, barracks, training centers, garrisons, air force bases, airfields, ports, strategic locations, and naval headquarters.
• Some examples of defense towns in India include Adampur, Ambala, Halwara, Jalandhar, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Khadakwasla, MOHO, Pathankot, Udhampur, and Vishakhapatnam. These towns play a crucial role in maintaining a country's defense infrastructure and preparedness.

Cultural Cities

These cities perform either religious, educational, or recreational functions.

• Educational: They are characterized by universities, college buildings, libraries, and playgrounds. They also have shops which mainly catch to the needs of the students, such as book shops, sports shops, etc.
  Example: Shantiniketan, Aligarh, Gurukul, Kharagpur, etc.
• Entertainment: Such towns are known for their theaters, art galleries, and other cultural activities as that of film making.
  Example: Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, etc.
• Religious: Religious towns can be centers of pilgrimage on the seats of religious leaders. They are characterized by religious monuments, shops of selling religious books, pictures, candles, agarbattis, etc.
  Example: Allahabad, Amritsar, Ajmer, Bodh-gaya, Dharamshala, Gangotri, Hardwar, Pushkar, Varanasi, etc.

Collection Centres

• The mining towns, fishing ports, lumbering centers are included in this category. The exploitation of minerals from the mines is the main function of the mining towns.
• Example: The urban places of Jawar near Udaipur, Digboi in Assam, Ankleshwar in Gujrat, Bailadila in Chhattisgarh; Kathgodam, Halwani, Kotwar in Uttarakhand, Machlipatnam, Kakinada, Mahe, Kozhikode, etc. are some of the examples of collection centers.

Production Centres

• The urban places having manufacturing industries are included in the category of manufacturing cities. These cities are well connected by roads and railways.
• Example: Bhilai, Bhadrawati, Bokaro, Coimbatore, Dhanbad, Durgapur, Jamshedpur, Vishakhapatnam, etc. are some of the important manufacturing centers of India.

Transfer and Distribution Centres

• The main functions performed at the transfer centres are trade, commerce, and services. The market towns are characterized by markets containing a wide range of goods, stores, warehouses godowns, cold storage, and wholesale markets supported by a good network of transport facilities.
• Example: The most important commercial centers are Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmadabad, Gwalior, Indore, Ludhiana, Muzaffarpur, Surat, etc.

Resorts Towns

• The urban places which accommodate the recreation needs of people are known as resorts or recreation towns. These towns may be based on health-giving water (hot-spring), seaside recreation, mountain-climbing, sports facilities, national parks, tiger reserves, and places of aesthetic beauty. Resort towns are also characterized by hotels, guest houses, cinema halls, nightclubs, shopping centers, etc.
• Example: Dehra-dun, Dalhousie, Darjeeling, Dharamshala, Gulmarg, Kullu, Manali, Mt. Abu, Nainital, Pahalgam, Panchmadhi, Ooty, Ranikhet, etc. are some of the examples of resort towns.

Residential Towns

• Some of the towns and cities are developed just to provide residential accommodation to the urban people. Modern towns are usually located away from congested cities and provide residential facilities for the urban people.
• Example: Delhi, Rohini, Indirapuram, New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, etc. are some examples of residential towns.

Seaports

• The basic task of seaports is to export and import goods.
• Example: Diamond Harbour, Haldia, Kandala, Kochi, New Mangalore, New-Tuticorin, Okhla, Paradeep, etc. are some examples of Seaport towns in India.

Cities with Diversified Functions

• As stated, most of the cities and towns of India are multifunctional. The capital cities are also the commercial, manufacturing, cultural and recreational centers. The seaports are engaged in trade and commerce, besides cultural activities.
• Example: New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Allahabad, etc. are some examples of multifunctional cities of India.

Ashok Mitra’s Classification of Indian Cities
Ashok Mitra, a former Registrar General of the Census of India, attempted a comprehensive classification of all Indian Cities. He divided the city function into nine groups. The groups are:

• I – Cultivation
• II – Agriculture Labour
• III – Mining, Fishing, Forestry and Livestock
• IV – Household Industry
• V – Manufacturing
• VI – Construction
• VII – Trade & Commerce
• VIII – Transportation & Communication
• IX – Services

He ignored the first two groups as they are related to villages and grouped the seven industrial categories of workers into three broad groups:

• Manufacturing Town (percentage of workers in III, IV, V, and VI put together is greater than the percentage in VII + VIII or in IX).
  i.e. (III+IV+V+VI) > (VII + VIII) or IX.
• Trade and Transport Town (percentage of workers in VII + VIII is greater than IX or in III + IV + V and VI put together).
  i.e. (VII + VIII) > IX or (III+IV+V+VI).
• Service Town (where a percentage of workers in IX is greater than workers in III + IV+V+VI or percentage in VII + VIII).
  i.e. (IX) > (III + IV+V+VI) or (VII + VIII)

The degree of specialization in each of the three basic groups (a, b, and c) was identified by a triangular method on a graph. The three sides of an equilateral triangle represent three groups by 100 values as shown in Figure:

The values of all the three groups are then plotted, and a point for each town within the triangle’s perpendiculars was located. Three circles from the in-center point (33 1/3) are drawn proportionately to represent 40, 45, and 50 values respectively.

These show an increasing tendency for specialization.

• The points within the first circle show highly diversified functions;
• points between the first and second circle are moderately diversified;
• points between the second and third represent specialized predominant function, and
• the points outside the outer (third) circle show highly specialized predominant function.

The classification of 2,528 towns reveals that 736 were primarily focused on agriculture, with the number of agricultural workers surpassing those in non-agricultural sectors. Out of the 1,792 non-agricultural towns, 655 were classified as manufacturing towns, 708 as trade and transport towns, and 429 as service towns.

Mitra's classification system effectively highlights the primary areas of specialization among cities, dividing them into three main functional categories - manufacturing, trading, and service (administration). However, it is essential to note that the majority of cities do not display a clear specialization in a single economic activity, as they possess diversified economic bases. This diversified city type, which performs multiple functions, is the most prevalent and characteristic urban form.

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) of Functional Classification of Towns

What is the functional classification of towns and cities?

Functional classification of towns and cities is a method used to categorize urban centers based on their primary functions and specializations, such as administration, education, trade, transportation, and industry.

What are the main types of functions cities can have?

Cities can have a variety of functions, including administrative, industrial, commercial, cultural, educational, health, transportation, and mixed-function centers.

What are some limitations and challenges in classifying Indian cities based on their functions

Classifying urban centers in India is a challenging task due to the vast number of urban areas, their diverse histories, and the lack of standardized data on the functions and economies of Indian cities.

How did Ashok Mitra classify Indian cities based on their functions?

Ashok Mitra classified Indian cities into three broad categories: manufacturing towns, trade and transport towns, and service towns. He used a triangular method on a graph to determine the degree of specialization in each of these categories.

Are most cities specialized in a single function or do they have multiple functions?

Most cities do not display a clear specialization in a single economic activity, as they possess diversified economic bases. This diversified city type, which performs multiple functions, is the most prevalent and characteristic urban form.