Maarg Manthan · Topic 10.11

Categorization of Cities Based on Functions

Geography › Urbanization, Settlements and Migration · Topic 10.11

Cities are classified by the main function that gives them their character, although most perform several. Types include administrative towns (capitals), industrial towns, commercial and trading centres, transport and port towns, mining towns, religious and cultural centres, educational towns, tourist and recreational towns, military cantonments and residential suburbs. The functional classification of Harris (1943) in the United States and the Census of India's household industry and occupation data are used. Cities with a mix of functions are called multifunctional or diversified.

5 min read · UPSC Prelims · Geography · Urbanization, Settlements and Migration

At a Glance

Administrative Delhi, Chandigarh, state capitals
Industrial Jamshedpur, Bhilai, Rourkela
Port Mumbai, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam
Religious Varanasi, Haridwar, Madurai
Educational Kota, Pune, Aligarh
Exam link UPSC Prelims, Geography: Urbanization, Settlements and Migration

Where Does It Fit?

This topic follows the topic on migration and classifies cities according to what they do. It is one of the two ways of classifying cities in the macro, the other being the classification by hierarchy and form, covered in a later topic. Previous topic: Migration: Push and Pull Factors, Internal and Cross-Border Migration. Next topic: Boundaries and Frontiers: Classification.

What Are the Functional Types of Cities?

Function	Basis	Examples in India
Administrative	Seat of government at national, state or district level	New Delhi, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Shimla
Industrial	Manufacturing as the chief activity	Jamshedpur (steel), Bhilai, Rourkela, Durgapur, Kanpur (leather and textiles), Surat (diamonds, textiles)
Commercial and trading	Wholesale and retail trade, finance and banking	Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Indore, Kolkata’s Burrabazar
Port and transport	Breaks of transport, handling cargo and passengers	Mumbai, Kandla, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi; Mughalsarai, Itarsi (rail junctions)
Mining	Located at mines	Dhanbad (coal), Raniganj, Singrauli, Digboi (oil), Kolar
Religious and cultural	Pilgrimage and heritage	Varanasi, Prayagraj, Haridwar, Ajmer, Madurai, Amritsar, Puri
Educational and research	Universities, coaching and institutes	Kota, Pune, Aligarh, Roorkee, Bengaluru
Tourist and recreational	Resorts, hill stations, beaches	Shimla, Mussoorie, Nainital, Goa, Udhagamandalam
Defence (cantonment)	Military establishment	Ambala, Jalandhar, Secunderabad, Kirkee, Mhow
Residential and satellite	Dormitory towns near large cities	Gurugram, Noida, Navi Mumbai, Salt Lake

How Do Functions Change and Combine?

Multifunctional cities: large cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are administrative, commercial, industrial, educational and cultural at once. A mix of functions makes them more resilient.
Changing functions: Bengaluru was a cantonment and public-sector industry town and became the information technology capital; Kanpur and Ahmedabad lost textile mills; Gurugram moved from a village to a corporate hub.
Single-function risks: towns that depend on one activity, such as a mine or a mill, decline when it closes, as with Jharia’s coal fields or the old jute mill towns on the Hooghly.
New functions: logistics, call centres, data centres, and special economic zones create new types of towns.

The functional approach also links to the economy of the city. Cities that produce goods and services for outside markets are called basic, and their activity brings in income that supports the local service activities, called non-basic, such as shops, schools and transport. The ratio of the two is a measure of how dependent a city is on outside demand. Harris’s classification in 1943 listed manufacturing, retail, wholesale, transport, mining, university and resort towns, among others, using the occupations of the workers. In India, the Census uses the share of workers in different sectors, and the National Institute of Urban Affairs and the NITI Aayog use the economic base to plan investment and to decide where to locate industrial and logistics parks and new growth centres. Tourist and pilgrimage towns show the strongest seasonal swings, with populations that multiply during festivals, such as Haridwar and Prayagraj during the Kumbh, and they need special arrangements for water, sanitation and crowd control. Defence towns are run under cantonment boards and often have well-planned, green layouts that differ sharply from the neighbouring civil towns. Port cities develop large hinterlands, as Mumbai and Chennai did, and their growth follows the flow of cargo. Educational towns such as Kota depend on a floating student population, and administrative towns depend on government spending, so a change in policy can alter their fortunes quickly. Rapid changes in technology make these categories less fixed than they were, and a university town may be a start-up hub within a generation. As an analytical point, the function of a city decides its location, its growth, the nature of its workforce and its problems, so that planners use the functional approach when they choose sites for new towns. The way cities are ranked by size and layout is in Classification of Cities: Hierarchical and Morphological, and the physical layout in Morphology of Urban Settlements and Town Planning.

Why Is This Topic Important?

Examples Match city with function
Change Functions shift over time
Planning Choosing sites for towns

What Came Next?

The next topic covers boundaries and frontiers and their classification. Next topic: Boundaries and Frontiers: Classification.

Key People and Terms

Administrative city Seat of government
Cantonment Military town
Dormitory town Residential town for commuters
Multifunctional city City with many functions
Gateway city Port or hub for trade
Satellite town Town built near a big city

Exam Corner

Points to Remember

Jamshedpur: steel; Dhanbad: coal.
Varanasi and Haridwar: religious cities.
Kota and Pune: educational centres.
Gurugram and Noida: satellite towns.
Large cities are multifunctional.

Do Not Confuse With

Functional and size classification What a city does versus how big it is
Cantonment and administrative city Military versus government seat
Satellite and dormitory town Planned town versus commuter housing

Memory Hook

Steel, coal, shrine and port, capital, school and resort: cities by what they do.

Mains Angle

Questions ask for examples of Indian cities by function. These points add depth.

Types Ten functional types
Change Functions shift
Risk Single-function towns

A Question You May Face

An original practice question, not a past paper question.

“Classify Indian cities on the basis of their functions and discuss how the functions of a city change over time.”

How to Answer

Classify Ten functions.
Examples Cities of India.
Change Bengaluru, Gurugram.
Risk Decline of single-function towns.

GS Relevance

Prelims: examples of cities by function in India. GS Paper 1: urban settlements.

Frequently Asked Questions

How are cities classified on the basis of functions?

Cities are classified by their dominant function into administrative, industrial, commercial, port and transport, mining, religious and cultural, educational, tourist and recreational, military and residential types. Most large cities perform several functions together, so they are called multifunctional.

Give examples of industrial and mining towns in India.

Jamshedpur, Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur are steel towns, Kanpur is known for leather and textiles, and Surat for diamond cutting and textiles. Dhanbad and Raniganj are coal mining towns, Singrauli is a coal and power centre, and Digboi in Assam is an oil town.

What is a cantonment town?

A cantonment town is a town built for the permanent quarters of the army and related services. It is administered by a cantonment board under the Ministry of Defence. Ambala, Jalandhar, Secunderabad, Kirkee near Pune, and Mhow in Madhya Pradesh are examples, and many started in the colonial period.

What is a satellite town?

A satellite town is a planned or growing town near a large city that is linked to it for jobs and services but has its own identity. Examples in India are Gurugram, Noida and Faridabad near Delhi, and Navi Mumbai near Mumbai. When mainly residential, they are called dormitory towns.

Why do the functions of a city change?

Functions change as economies and technologies change. Bengaluru moved from a cantonment and public-sector industrial town to an information technology hub, while textile cities such as Kanpur lost mills. New transport links, policies and industries create new functions, while the loss of a single industry can cause decline.

PYQ Practice — Statement Analysis

1 Jamshedpur is a steel city of India.

True

It is a company town of Tata Steel.

2 Varanasi is mainly an industrial city.

False

It is a religious and cultural centre.

3 A multifunctional city performs only one function.