Measuring Urbanisation, Growth of Urban Agglomeration, Urban Growth Sustainability and Role of Urban Primacy in India

An attempt is made to critically study the measuring urbanisation, recent urban growth patterns, Urban Growth Sustainability (UGS) and addresses the question of how the primate city impacts urban growth. The methods of Urban-Rural Growth Differential (URGD), Composite Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) and Index of Primacy (PI) have been used to understand recent urban growth, impact of primate cities in India based on Census. The top-heavy nature of India’s metropolitan structure has a negative impact on the country’s balanced regional growth. The study recommends that more infrastructure capacity should be granted for the primate cities due to increases in the city’s population.