Sumana Bandyopadhyay (p), Kanika Basu

The Census of India 2011 reported an urbanization level of 31.16%, an increase of 2.63 percentage points from urbanization level of 28.53% in 2001. The growth rate of urban population reported between 2001-2011 is 31.8%, marginally higher than the urban growth rate of 31.5% in the preceding decade i.e. 1991-2001. However, the most distinctive feature of the urbanization statistics of 2001-2011 is that (a) for the first time the absolute increase of population in urban areas (91.0 million) is more than the increase of population in rural areas (90.4 million) and (b) unprecedented increase in the number of Census Towns. Census Towns as per the definition of Census of India are settlement that (a) have a minimum population of 5000 (b) at least 75% of male main working population is engaged in nonagricultural pursuits and (c) a density of population of at least 400 persons per sq. km. However, unlike the statutory towns that are administratively declared urban centres by state and is either a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, census towns continue to be administered as rural areas. Importantly, settlements are identified as Census Towns before the start of census operations.
The number of Census Towns in 2011 was reported to be 3894, an increase of 2532, compared to the number of Census towns of 1362 in 2001. The total number of urban centres in India has increased by only 2541 in all the 10 decades of the last century but has registered an increase of 2774 in the last decade – an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of Indian Census (Kundu:2011). While the share of Census Towns (CTs) in the total urban population was 7.4% in 2001, the share of CTs in 2011 would be around 13.7 and 14.5% of urban population which is a form of in situ urbanization i.e. urbanization without substantial migration between settlements (Pradhan:2013). This unique phenomenon of census towns in the urbanization process in India has received diverse interpretations. Arguing that “by deducting the population of new towns from the urban population in both 2001 and 2011, the growth rate of the resulting urban population in 2001-2011 would be significantly less than in the previous decade”, Kundu (2011) has interpreted it as “census activism working under pressure to report a higher pace of urbanization.” Whereas, Pradhan (2013) has termed as the phenomenon as “unacknowledged urbanization” a consequence, albeit partly of the reluctance of state policy to recognize new Statutory Towns (STs) which is responsible for the phenomenal growth of the new CTs. In either reality, this enormous increase in Census Towns needs in depth exploration and analysis since as a process of urbanization it implies a departure for the normal migration induced urbanization and has the potential to impact the hitherto existing top heavy urban structure in India and induce a ‘distributed model’. In this context, this paper aims to study the Census Town phenomenon at state level to arrive at some conclusions segregated at state level and for a better understanding of the ensuing urban process and future urban structure in India.

Burcu Yaşlak (p), Aliye Ahu Akgün

The use of data is always at the heart of any design process which is directly or indirectly related to people. The complexity of urban design challenges reflects on the data process. To overcome this challenge, many techniques are used in order to foresee the future. One of them is to exploit big data while its spatial projection still a new debate in the design arena. Big data provides extensive and real-time knowledge about the city, which brings a better urbanisation in both governance and design perspective. With the help of big data use, it is possible to analyse and design urban area rapidly.
This paper systematically reviews the intersected literature on big data and urban design to better understand the extent of the use of data to figure the future of spatial patterns in urban areas. The literature used in this paper is derived from SCOPUS one of the largest resource of peer-reviewed journals as well as conference papers, books and other written documentations. Although we are aware of the use of big data, the papers are not tracing back more than 2013 and that the use of big data for urban design is a story of the last 5 years.

Sophie Masson (p)

Logistics is not only a fundamental component of firm’s strategy and a globalization vehicle; it is becoming also a challenge for regional development and planning. The logistics facilities constitute a major challenge for the performance of the economy and the competitiveness of territories and are associated with important territorial stakes. This justifies clarifying the processes of production of logistics sites and questioning about their regulation and planning. This is a new and complex issue. It is new because the logistics, despite its territorial effects, is often solely considered from the private perspective. It is complex because it does not exist today an institutionalized structure by law to regulate the production of logistics areas. However, the regulation of logistics localisation is made necessary both for the efficiency of the logistics chains and for the attractiveness of the territories. The paper proposes to mobilize the concept of territorialisation in order to review the modalities of regulation of logistic facilities. It shows that the logistic facilities regulation process is characterised by a singular territorialisation process. Based on the analysis of five territorial approaches, it reveals that this territorialisation is carried out by local stakeholders and characterized by a pragmatic adaptation process. However, with the framework "France Logistique 2025" strategy initiated by the French government, the territorialisation of land logistic development may tend to become institutionalized.

Yoshifumi Ishikawa (p)

In Japan, two massive earthquakes have occurred in the past 20 years, since 1995; namely, the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Great Hanshin–Awaji Earthquake. The Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in 2011 significantly damaged the Tohoku region in Japan. Particularly, the coastal area of the Fukushima prefecture is still suffering from the impacts of the nuclear power plant accident due to the earthquake. Subsequent to the earthquake, in 2011, the number of evacuees living outside Fukushima stood at 55,608. Five years have passed since the earthquake; as of 2015, still 43,497 evacuees live outside Fukushima. It is considered that the population decline due to deaths, number of missing persons, and evacuation has resulted in a fall in consumer demand, which, in turn, has negatively affected the regional economy. Thus, there is a possibility of a long-term population decline, particularly in the coastal area of the Fukushima prefecture, if reconstruction and recovery from the 2011 earthquake is delayed. Contrarily, the Great Hanshin–Awaji Earthquake that occurred in 1995 mainly damaged Kobe city. Following the Great Hanshin–Awaji Earthquake, the population of Kobe city declined from 1.52 million to 1.42 million. Although it took 10 years for the population in the city to recover to the pre-earthquake level, the population, as of 2015, is 1.54 million.
In this study, we analyze the recovery process of population and its economic impacts after the massive earthquakes. By using the three region interregional input–output model, economic impacts are estimated for the following regions: affected region, its surrounding region at the prefecture level, and the whole of Japan. From the results of the analysis, we show the difference in the recovery process between the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Great Hanshin–Awaji Earthquake.