Why cities grow

Cities grow for reasons. In the past, they grew:

• near rivers, which made transport easy;
• where trade routes crossed, so markets grew;
• near farm produce and raw materials, which supported craftspeople and manufacturing.

Then they became centres of business, and later of government.

Location still matters. Places near coasts, rivers or trade routes become business hubs. Mumbai, on the Arabian Sea, and Kolkata, near the eastern coast, became important port cities for trade within India and with the world.

More and more people live in cities. The United Nations expects 68 per cent of the world's people to live in cities by 2050, compared with 55 per cent now.

In India, the share of people in cities grew from 17 per cent in 1951 to about 40 per cent in 2025.

This shift of people from villages to towns and cities is called urbanisation. It happens in stages:

• 1. Village beginnings: most people do farm work.
• 2. Early urbanisation: the place attracts people; small towns and trading centres appear; work shifts to small industries, transport and services.
• 3. New buildings: factories, hotels, government offices, banks, places for entertainment and sport.
• 4. Many kinds of jobs: writer, architect, auto driver, musician, security guard…
• 5. Big city: the city spreads into a metropolitan area.

Jamshedpur shows the whole story in one place. Sakchi was a small village on the Chota Nagpur Plateau.

It was chosen for Asia's first steel plant because iron ore was found nearby. Steel needs iron, so being close to it saved effort and money.

The Tata family wanted to build a proper township for the workers. Sir Dorabji Tata even built a hospital in the village before any steel was made. People come to work only where there are basic facilities.

Sakchi was renamed Jamshedpur in 1919. Today it is Jharkhand's largest industrial city, planned from the start with wide, tree-lined streets, gardens, open spaces and civic amenities (services for residents).