*Department of Geography, Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, West Bengal, India. Email: piluroy@yahoo.co.in
**Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India. Email: ashoksarkar.kmg@gmail.com
An attempt has been made in this study to assess the nature and characteristics of urban primacy of Cooch Behar town, West Bengal, India. The town has played a pivotal role in the economic growth and development to its urban field and has emerged as the most important urban centre in the entire district. With its excessive population growth, concentration of diversified economic activities and infrastructure base, the town has attained significant level of primacy which no other town in the district has ever reached. Being the leading town in the district, Cooch Behar constitutes around more than one-fourth of the total urban population of the district. It is not only the largest urban centre in terms of both population size and areal extent but also the fastest growing town among all the urban centres of the district and serving as growth centre to its catchment area. In order to measure the level of primacy of the town, Rank size rule of Zipf, Index of Primacy by Gibbs's and Reilly's Breaking Point Analysis has been applied. Results show significant dominance of Cooch Behar town to its adjacent areas with a little bit declines in terms of its primacy as compared to the past.
Rank Size Rule, Urban Primacy, Index of Primacy, Zone of Influence, Hierarchy
