Urbanization in India: Population and Urban Classification Grids for 2011.

Natalie Lin,Deborah Balk,Mark Montgomery,Bryan Jones,Hasim Engin,Elizabeth Major

doi:10.3390/data4010035

Natalie Lin, Deborah Balk + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/data4010035

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Abstract

India is the world's most populous country, yet also one of the least urban. It has long been known that India's official estimates of urban percentages conflict with estimates derived from alternative conceptions of urbanization. To date, however, the detailed spatial and settlement boundary data needed to analyze and reconcile these differences have not been available. This paper presents gridded estimates of population at a resolution of 1 km along with two spatial renderings of urban areas-one based on the official tabulations of population and settlement types (i.e., statutory towns, outgrowths, and census towns) and the other on remotely-sensed measures of built-up land derived from the Global Human Settlement Layer. We also cross-classified the census data and the remotely-sensed data to construct a hybrid representation of the continuum of urban settlement. In their spatial detail, these materials go well beyond what has previously been available in the public domain, and thereby provide an empirical basis for comparison among competing conceptual models of urbanization.

Highlights

IntroductionThe world’s most populous country, is one of the least urban. At the time of the most recent census in 2011, 31% of the country’s population lived in urban areas according to the official statistics [1]
India, the world’s most populous country, is one of the least urban
The public finance problem is that an urban authority may not be eligible for development funds that are earmarked for rural areas, and depending on circumstance, state governors may be unpersuaded of the potential for obtaining commensurate urban development funds [2,3,4]

Summary

Introduction

The world’s most populous country, is one of the least urban. At the time of the most recent census in 2011, 31% of the country’s population lived in urban areas according to the official statistics [1]. Perspective in which urban-ness is defined in terms of population density, areal contiguity, and the total population of sufficiently dense contiguous areas This approach stands in contrast to the official classifications for India, which blend the statistical perspective with an alternative view that takes the legal boundaries of urban jurisdictions into account. Both perspectives have merit; but it has proven difficult to reconcile them because the data needed to do so have not been available in the public domain. To accompany these two urban classification grids, we produce a grid of population using the same finely-resolved spatial units—not previously used as inputs in any other spatial population dataset—so that urban location and population may be examined together

Input Data

Population Census Abstracts

Boundary Data

Output Data

Methods

Matching

On the Use of Thiessen Polygons

Transforming

Census-Only Grids

Census and GHSL-Based Classification

Findings

User Notes