Geography · Ch 10 — Human Settlements
Administrative Towns and Cities
Administrative Towns and Cities
Administrative towns and cities are a category of urban settlements defined by their primary function: housing the administrative headquarters of higher-order government bodies. These are not towns that grew organically around trade, industry, or religion; their very reason for existence is governance.
The textbook defines them clearly: towns that support administrative headquarters of higher order are classified as administrative towns. The phrase "higher order" is important — it means state capitals, national capitals, or major regional administrative centres, not just a local tehsil or district office.
Several examples are given to illustrate this category: Chandigarh, New Delhi, Bhopal, Shillong, Guwahati, Imphal, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, and Chennai. Notice the spread across India — from the national capital (New Delhi) to state capitals in the north (Srinagar, Chandigarh, Jaipur), west (Gandhinagar), central (Bhopal), east (Shillong, Guwahati, Imphal), and south (Chennai). This shows that administrative towns are found in every region.
What makes a town "administrative" is not its size or age, but its dominant function. In these towns, a large proportion of the workforce is employed in government offices, secretariats, planning commissions, and related services. The urban landscape itself reflects this — wide boulevards, planned sectors, government buildings, and residential colonies for officials. Chandigarh, designed by Le Corbusier, is a textbook example of a planned administrative city. New Delhi, with its grand central vista and ministries, is another.
Many administrative towns are also "planned cities" — deliberately designed and built to serve as capitals. But the textbook does not say all administrative towns are planned; some, like Chennai or Jaipur, existed as historic cities before becoming administrative centres. The key is their current function, not their origin.
A common confusion is between "administrative town" and "capital city." While all state capitals are administrative towns, not every administrative town is a capital. For instance, Guwahati is a major administrative centre for Assam's lower Assam division, but the state capital is Dispur (a suburb of Guwahati). The textbook lists Guwahati as an example, so the category is broader than just "capital." …