Authors

• Pankhuri Bhatia, Research Scholar and Assistant Professor, Guru Ramdas School of Planning, Guru Nanak Dev University
• Ashwani Luthra, Professor, Guru Ramdas School of Planning, Guru Nanak Dev University

Differentials in the size of settlements play a vital role in preparing developmental and infrastructural policies and programmes for them at the regional scale. The distribution pattern of settlements reflects the balance or imbalances in society and the economy. The rank-size rule helps in analysing the changes occurring in the hierarchy of settlements over the period. It identifies the classes of towns that witness changes in their ranks over time to suggest policy measures for a balanced urban system. For the present study, statutory towns of the Punjab state in India have been chosen for three census years, i.e. 1971, 1991 and 2011 to examine the variations in their ranks by applying Zipf’s rank size rule. The study reveals that the state lacks conformity with the rank-size rule due to unification forces. Analysis reveals that during 1971-91 and 1991-2011, the rank of 29% and 6% towns respectively remained unchanged and the ranks of remaining towns either up-scaled or scaled down leading to an imbalanced or less balanced urban settlement system. Overall, during 1971–2011, the rank of 8% towns remained the same. High variations are observed in class III and IV towns, where not only did their ranks change but their classes also changed.