Regionalization of Urbanization and Spatial Development: Planning Regions in Bangladesh

Urbanization in Bangladesh takes the form of rapid growth of urban population, largely due to natural growth and rural-urban migration. The hierarchy of urban system includes both induced and spontaneous growth centres. Large numbers of spontaneous growth centres grow due to rapid population growth as well as growing importance of certain local resource that induces economic growth. Trickle down effects are not uniformly speeded spatially perhaps because of spatial variation in environmental conditions, and socio-economic infrastructures of the country. And there exists wide spatial inequalities in the rates of urbanization and economic growth and development. The major objectives of this study are to examine the broader rudiments of the growth pole theme and to examine the roles of population pressure, environmental constraints, technology, socio-economic, institutional, and capital factors on urbanization, spatial development and inequality in Bangladesh. The spatial patterns of regional inequalities have been assessed to formulate regional planning required in the context of Bangladesh. Factor and cluster analyses techniques were used to identify the nature and spatial patterns of urbanization and spatial development separately for the year 1991. The results of factor and cluster analysis have been compared to the findings of the study throughout discussion. Factor analysis provided the initial scrutiny of variables and their spatial variations with some qualifications. While the factor structures captured all 18 variables in the analysis and grouped them into fewer factors at each time period, factor scores derived from such analyses formed the bases of regionalization of urbanization and spatial development. * Associate Professor, Department of Geography & Environmental Studies, University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Corresponding E-mail: [email protected] 1 Paper presented for the 2001 Annual Conference of IGU Commission on Evolving Issues of Geographical Marginality in the Early 21 Century World, Organized by IGU Commission, Nordic Centre for Spatial Development (Nordregio) and Regional Science Research Unit, Karlstad University, 25 June – 1 July 2001, Skeppsholmen, Stockholm: Sweden. The Journal of Geo-Environment, 2004 32