Urbanization is one of the important outcomes of the process of the economic growth and is one of the oldest phenomenon of the human existence and the process of civilization. The growth of urban population and hence the process of urbanization has been very rapid in the recent years specifically during the 20th century. Urbanization in India, like the other developing regions, has also been witnessed largely in the second half of the 20th century. The growth of cities of different class sizes in India indicates a faster growth of the urban population and its concentration in the big cities. Moreover, there has also been a considerable increase in the number of cities with million plus population in the country. The major issues related to urbanization include migration, degradation of environment, pollution, slum settlements and urban poor raise significant concerns regarding the urbanization process. Tackling these issues requires high amount of planning both at micro as well as macro levels. The modern approach to planning is viewed in terms of moving away from the traditional planning system and is required to have a decentralized and participatory approach.

Among the many developments in the history of human civilization, the process of urbanization is on from a few millennia. It is believed that human beings have been living in sizable settlement clusters, which can be called as „urban‟, for nearly about 5000 years. However, for a long period of time, especially before the industrialization, population in these settlements constituted a very small proportion of the total population of the world. Widespread urbanization, defined as the movement of large proportion of population from villages to cities and towns, has been a relatively recent phenomenon and has taken place mainly in the 20th century. The proportion of urban population in the world was as low as 3 per cent at the end of the 18th century. According to the World Urbanization Prospects 2007, the world urban population has grown to 3.3 billion in the year 2008, which is over 50% of the total world population and is expected to be about 60% by the year 2030 (United Nations, 2008, p. 3).