Page 80 - IJPS-11-6

International Journal of
Population Studies The paradox of urban decline in India

Figure 6. Spatial pattern of shrinking cities in India (population declined during 1991–2001 and 2001–2011)

3.6. Other local factors The study has carefully examined whether the decline
Other local factors such as civic administrative status and was the outcome of change in delineated boundary and
distance from cities and area change status play significant reduction area. The result shows that urban decline in
roles in urban decline (Table 4). The results indicate that India was not an outcome of the reduction in the area of
urban centers with civic status, such as census towns and urban centers as the odds of population decline were found
cantonments, were more likely to experience population to be significantly higher among the urban centers where
decline among all urban centers, while municipalities were the area has expanded for all urban centers. However, the
less likely to experience the same. While only looking at the condition was insignificant for cities.
cities (4 model), municipal councils were more likely to 4. Discussion
th
decline (3.085 times) compared to municipal corporations.
Another important factor contributing to urban decline is In this study, we uncovered the typical nature of urban
the distance to the nearest class I city. It was observed that growth in India. Many urban centers in India have passed
urban centers located at a greater distance from the nearest from a low growth rate to a high growth rate and again
class I city were more likely to experience urban decline devolved into the declining and shrinking stage. There
than those that are nearer. However, it is not applicable for was sluggish urban growth during the pre-independence
class I cities. Furthermore, the result indicates that urban era, but the post-independence era saw a surge in growth.
centers in an agglomeration were more likely to experience However, post-liberalization, the growth rate slowed
population loss compared to independent urban centers. down, and many urban centers started to shrink. The pre-

Volume 11 Issue 6 (2025) 74 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.3107