Development and Structure of An Urban System

Teaching the forces operative behind evolution and character of a regional urban system, the present study tries to weight the historical forces and related fortuitous factors vis-à-vis geographical factors as these have shaped it in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. With this approach, the study delvas rather deeply into the historical events and processes particularly operative in the region, and tries to relate specific attributes of the regional urban system to them. In the geographical milieu of an rather mild and hospitable topography and climate, a midland and en route location of Malwa with respect to important historical routes, and the fissiparous historical processes resulting in a jumble of numerous princely states and other territorial units, there has emerged an urban system on the cardinal structure of such a territorial organisation. The very ubiquitous nature of urban resource base and a relatively better-off disposition of the region have presented a congenial backdrop for the development of settlements with administrative, commercial and social central services as their functional “raison d’eter”, and an urban system essentially as a central place system. Other aspects of the urban system analysed and synthesised with the main theme are socio-economic characteristics, functional structure and specialisation of towns, migration streams and the demographic growth of towns, locational context and the size and spacing of towns.

Dr. Jawahar Lal Jain (b. 1945), has been teaching for over one and a half decades in his Alma-Mater, the University of Sagar. A seasoned teacher and a reputed research guide for doctoral work, he attended an international conference at South-Asian Centre, University of Wisconsic, Madison (USA) in 1985 and presented a paper. He has also contributed to various geographic cartographic journals and conferences/symposia mostly in the field of urbanization, urban systems, synoptic mapping etc. Besides these areas, Dr. Jain has strong interest in Cartography, Remote Sensing, and Geographical Information System also. He is associated with Ind. Nat. Carto. Assoc. of Geographers of India, and Instt. of Ind. Geographers. Currently he is working on a book on Remote Sensing.