The geographical study of urban areas has become a fascinating ground or the Human Geographers. Most of the early studies of urban geography followed the approach of the currently fashionable paradigm. In recent years, urban geographers have been among the leader in suggesting alternative geographical philosophies of times, new concepts, methodologies and approaches are emerging in this sub-discipline of Human Geography. Consequently, more and more new and interesting literature is being produced by urban geographers.
Each of the papers is pioneer in nature and comprehensive in character. The volume beings with ‘Historical Perspectives on the city’, giving the overview of urban history to the students of urban – social-geography. The urban mosaic, the city in Time and Space has been followed in the next two papers respectively. Cities and their foundation vary from nation to nation and from region to region. The next paper deals with the city in Soviet Union city often been referred as a living organism, and this aspect has been vividly examined in the article entitled ‘The city as a Living Space’. The demand for houses, residential mobility, and urban residential structure has been discussed in the seventh paper. The major changes in the modern cities have been taken care of in the paper on ‘Change in the Late 20th Century City’. The last paper gives the patterns and tendencies of urban settlements.

The behavioral and especially the structuralize arguments presented in the papers of this volume give a clear idea about the recent trends in Urban Geography. The work, it is hoped will serve the needs of those who are examining the processes and functions of urban growth and the problems associated with urbanization, particularly in the Third World Countries.

The study of the role of Transport in Geography, including patterns and modes of transportation quantitative studies of the movement of goods and people and relationship between transport and other geographic factors is an emerging branch or Economic Geography. In transport geography the geographers attempt to examine (i) network studies to explain the geographic pattern of transport (roads, railways, canals), (ii) study of transport terminals, i.e ports and airports, (iii) studies of movement of commodities involving the transport flow analysis, and (iv) the movement of people at the local, regional, national and international levels. A legion of literature has been produced in these areas of transport geography but that a scattered in numerous periodicals and journals, and thus not easily accessible.
The present book containing fifteen well documented research papers is unique in the sense that its papers give a clear idea of the basic concepts of transport geography, present the growth and evolution of this field give an insight in the transport models and reveal regional patterns of transport in the European, American and South Asian countries. The main attractions of the volume are: ‘Trade and its Routes’ ‘Industry and the web of transportation’ ‘Projection of International Passenger Flows’ ‘Transport and Trade in Manufacturing Goods’ Potential Transport Cost and Market Potential’ ‘Geography of International Trade and Transport’ ‘Transport Network Evolution in N.W. India’ ‘Economics Base of Commodity Flow’ ‘Transport for Industry’ and ‘Mathematical Transport Models’.

Medical Geography deals with the study of spatial aspects of health and the delivery of health care. Today Medical Geography has achieved more recognition and status as a distinct sub-field of human geography as compared to geography of education and crime. The most obvious geographical perspective on health is the description of the spatial distribution of morbidity and mortality from various causes.
The opening chapter deals with the concept and definition of Medical Geography. The social relevance, scope and nature of Medical Geography have been discussed in this paper followed by the Disease Diffusion’. The other articles in the volume are ‘Ecological Associative Analysis’, Geography, Epidemiology and Human Health.’ The disease scenario and Medical Geography in the Third World countries has been given in the Seventh Chapter. ‘Health Care Delivery’ ‘Mental Ill’ and ‘Enough to Drive one Mad’ written by the scholars of repute are the other papers of the volume.
The primary objective of the book is to provide guidance for the Medical Geography students. It should also enable the committed students to learn and explore more about this important aspect of geography. It is also hoped that the book will be of assistance to medical geography teachers anxious to keep themselves abreast of developments in their subject.

Any risk to humans encountered in the physical environment is known as geographical hazard. Most of the widely recognized hazards are earthquakes, volcanoes, severe weather, floods and droughts. Many of the hazards are man made. Pollution of water, air and soil are human creations. The oil-spills, pesticides are also man made hazards. The whole question of how humans individually and in groups, perceive environmental hazards has generated large literature over the past three decades.
In this book the first paper presents a clear landmark in the field of resource perception and sets out an agenda of issues requiring future measurement and conceptual development. It is a touchstone against which subsequent work can be measured. The type of natural and man-made hazards have been given in the second chapter and it has been emphasized that hazard always likely to cause injury, or damage to people and to property involving general sufferings and distress and considerable economic cost. Environmental hazards have regional or global consequences, and they are characterized by a greater degree of scientific dispute as to cause, consequences, and probability of occurrence than is natural hazard. The perception of drought hazard has been tasted by conducting sample studies in some of the important plains of the world in which the frequency of droughts is very high. Rest of the papers examines the issues of floods, their impact on man, and their management. The last two papers of the volume provide an insight into the problems of hazards and resource management and the natural disease and human behavior respectively.
The basic object of this book is to provide guidance for potential geography students about the nature, frequency of natural and man-made hazards and the management of resources at the occurrence of such hazards, especially in the hazard prone areas. It is also hoped that the volume would be of great assistance to geography teachers and scholars who are anxious to keep themselves abreast with the developments in their subject.