Part of the changing urban geography

Urban geography is one of the most rapidly expanding branches of human geography. “Before 1950” Johnston observes, “very few members of the academic world have called themselves urban geographers, and it was only a change of emphasis in geography as a whole after about 1955 that made urban place a major focus of academic research” (Johnston, 1984).

Among the English geographers, the works of Dickinson, Smailes and Green need special mention. Sir Prof. L. D. Stamp’s work “Applied Geography” initiated the land use studies in urban geography. However, American scholars (Burgess, Harris, Mayor, Berry and others) have paid greater attention to the urban land-use studies and have tried to make it more scientific and technical.

Bartholomew’s work ‘Land uses in American cities’ (1955) became a pioneering American study in this field. ‘Benares’ (1955) by Prof. R. L. Singh was received as a monumental work in the study of the individual Indian cities. Nigam’s study ‘Lucknow – A study in Urban Geography’ (1960) is a pioneering study on the city of Lucknow and its urban geography. The urban society became the choice of human living in the modern industrial-technological world.

In Kochi Apartments have many takers and the apartment culture is now finding firm roots and is unlikely to decline in the near future. The urban geography of this city has undergone major changes within a short period of time. Such massive changes are mainly as a result of the changing outlook of the society to life. The traditional housing and living concepts are now a thing of the past. The fast lifestyle of the people and the lack of free time to spend on other avenues have resulted in phenomenal changes in every sphere of society. Even political events are now ignored by the society in the politically conscious state of Kerala.