Role of transport infrastructure in birth of census towns in West Bengal

In the Indian Census, the growth of villages into small towns (called Census Towns, CT) accounted for almost 30% of urbanization during 2001–11, which was significantly higher than the preceding decades. This paper evaluates the role of the transportation infrastructure in this phenomenon by using data from the State of West Bengal, which has experienced the birth of the largest number of such towns. We use the probit regression method involving binary dependent variables. The results show that the existence of state/national highways in the neighborhood increase the probability of a village, designated as a ‘would be CT’ in the 2001 Census, to be converted into a CT in the 2011 Census. The closer the location of the highway, the more intensive the positive effect. The rail infrastructure does not play a significant role in this process. Interestingly, the paper shows although the density of local road networks generally complements highways in the formation of cities, the complementarity relationship is the opposite in the districts bordering Kolkata. The role of the Golden Quadrangle (GQ) project, highway construction project undertaken in India during this time to connect the four major metropolitan cities of India, had a limited impact compared to national/state highways in the birth of CTs. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41685-021-00224-5.