Kanpur spelled Cawnpore before 1948, is the Industrial Capital of Uttar Pradesh
and is the administrative headquarters of Kanpur Nagar district, Kanpur Dehat district and Kanpur division. It is the eleventh-most populous city in India and the major industrial hub with in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
It is one of the oldest industrial townships of North India. It has a metropolitan area of over 1,640 square kilometres 630 sq mi and a city area of around 829 km2 with an approximate population of 3 million inhabitants in its area.It is administratively divided into 6 zones and 110 wards with an average ward population range of 19000 to 26000.
City Development Plan for Kanpur city is both a perspective and vision for the future development. Kanpur City Development Plan is the culmination of a study by JPS Associates. This report is based on invaluable inputs the consultants received from the various stakeholders and the officers associated with the development of the city. This CDP,
therefore, truly reflects the vision of the citizens, the poor and the slum dwellers and the officers who are determined to make Kanpur a futuristic city in the next few years.
Over the past years the city has developed to an important centre of textile, leather, electronics, chemicals, food processing, automobiles, communication, Real estate, Information Technology, aerospace, engineering and Heavy Industries. The city has also developed to a major infrastructural city in the past years. Many Shopping Malls, Multiplexes, Real Estate Townships, Company Offices have been developed. The city also specialises for single story houses. About 50% of City residents live in Single story houses making it the only city in India where majority of people can live in their own house rather than apartments.
Kanpur is believed to have been founded by members of the Chandela dynasty from the state of Sachendi. The city´s name is believed to derive from Kanhiyapur (from the Hindi meaning "town of Kanhaiya"). During the British Raj, this was anglicised to Cawnpore. In old British maps it is also listed as Khanpur.
Others believe that the name is derived from Karnapur (meaning "town of Karna", one of the heroes of the Mahabharata). Another theory is that it came from the nearby town of Makanpur, earlier known as Khairabad, where the Sufi saint of the Madariya Sufi order, Badiuddin Zinda Shah Madar, settled.
