Geography in India

CHAPTER 6

Regional Planning

H. N. Misra and L. S. Bhat

Introduction

The study of regions, or mosaic of spaces, has been the core of geographical analysis since long. In the contemporary context, the tone and tenor of teaching and research in regional geography was set by Wooldridge in 1950. However, regional development and planning crystallizing in applied geography emerged from the ‘social relevance movement’ and ‘welfare approach’ of the 1960s. Regional Planning is perhaps the most articulate branch of applied geography. It is one of the most rapidly expanding and dynamic sub-disciplines in contemporary geography.

Its roots, however, go back to the middle of the nineteenth century in the works of Von Thunen and Weber, and then to the early ...