Authors

• Vasudev S. Salunke, Assistant Professor, K. J. Somaiya College, Kopargaon, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra
• Anilkumar R. Pathare, Associate Professor, RNC Arts, JDB Commerce and NSC Science College, Nasik Road, Maharashtra
• Nanabhau S. Kudnar, Assistant Professor, C. J. Patel College Tirora, Gondia, Maharashtra

This investigation aims to examine the changes in trend, pattern, and concentration of urbanisation at the district level in Maharashtra state of India for the period 1961 to 2011. The study is primarily based on the secondary data were collected from various census of India. The decadal growth rate (DGR), location quotient (LQ), Karl parson’s correlation coefficient method (CC), and rank-size rule (RS) were applied to find out the growth rate, concentration, influence of other factors on urbanisation and regional disparity successively. The computed LQ index of the urban population is high in Mumbai (2.1), Mumbai-suburban (2.1), Thane (1.7), and Pune (1.35) districts of western Maharashtra as compared to the districts of Marathwada, Vidarbha, Konkan and North Maharashtra divisions. The estimated values of rank-size demarcate the uneven pattern of urbanisation and interpret the regional urban disparity. The high positive correlation exhibits between the district wise concentration of urban population with human development index (HDI) 0.79 and school density (SD) 0.74 whereas it negatively associates with the forest cover (FC) -0.04. This study may help urban planners and policymakers for proper urban planning and sustainable development of cities as well as decentralisation of urban centers to minimise the urban regional disparity.