ABSTRACT

This article is part of a larger research project on new urban geographies in India. Between the population censuses of 2001 and 2011, India witnessed a record increase of 2,532 new Census Towns, small settlements that meet the country's criteria to be considered ‘urban’. This steep increase is intricately linked with decreases in agricultural jobs, but we know very little about the spatiality of these urban geographies, alternative local employment, or the nature of the local economies of Census Towns. Based on a tailored geodatabase, our Main Map visualizes the geography of these heretofore uncharted Census Towns in the state of West Bengal. We then draw on reconnaissance fieldwork to zoom in on a cluster of Census Towns in central Bengal where we find evidence of urban growth that appears linked to road infrastructure, what we described in earlier conceptual work as “emergent highway urbanization”. The Main Map and reconnaissance fieldwork contribute to a better, albeit early-stage, understanding of the rapidly changing spatiality of contemporary urbanization in this region.

摘要

本文是有关印度新城市地理学的大型研究项目的一部分。在2001年至2011年的人口普查之间，印度见证了2,532个新的人口普查城镇的创纪录增长，这些城镇符合该国被视为“城市”标准的小型定居点。这种急剧增加与农业工作的减少错综复杂地联系在一起，但我们对这些城市地理的空间，替代性当地就业或人口普查镇地方经济的性质知之甚少。基于量身定制的地理数据库，我们的主地图以可视化的方式显示了西孟加拉邦迄今未知的这些普查人口普查镇的地理。然后，我们利用侦察野外工作来放大孟加拉中部的一组人口普查城镇，在那里我们发现了与道路基础设施有关的城市增长证据，我们在较早的概念性工作中将其描述为“新兴的高速公路城市化”。尽管处于早期阶段，但“主地图”和侦察野外工作有助于人们更好地了解该地区当代城市化快速变化的空间。